Narrows
by cgrimm54
Summary: Samantha Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, is suddenly killed in an attack that catches even the most advanced warship in the Alliance Navy off guard.  As she wakes up in a strange space station, she is forced to rely on her skills as a leader to survive.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

I have had this stewing in my head for about three months now and finally decided to put it down. It's a fairly straightforward chronicle of Sam Shepard and her fight against Cerberus in the game Mass Effect 2. I really blame most of the people over on the BioWare Social Network for this, as my lurking there for months on end precipitated the series of events that led to this.

As the whole character thing states, this may be Shepard's story, but Kaidan figures pretty heavily into it, so there is bound to be some... er... romance involved. It will remain fairly PG-13, as I cannot write sex scenes, but that doesn't mean there won't be angst! As for the title, I'll figure out why it is what it is when it comes to me.

As always, BioWare is the reason this series and its universe even exists, so anything in here besides the plot is theirs.

* * *

**Narrows**

Chapter 1

Samantha Joanne Shepard woke from a restless slumber to find her legs tangled in the sheets. She squinted around in the darkness, her eyes tracing a path across the desk, chairs, and finally to the table next to her bed, where the clock sat, its red numbers shining ominously in the half-light.

02:30

She lay back, almost angrily, as she struggled to remember what had woken her.

_It's always that same dream… _she thought. _The one where the Reapers hang in the skies of every human world. And I can do nothing to stop them._

She quickly pushed those thoughts aside. She didn't work in hypotheticals. With that, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and padded across the Spartan interior of her room, the largest quarters on the Normandy SR-1.

As she looked in the mirror on her desk, she saw nothing but the sad look in her vibrant green eyes and the enormous bags underneath them.

_Ever since Sovereign attacked the Citadel I have gotten less than five hours of sleep nightly. This is probably an issue._ She stifled a small laugh at her own little joke, then unlocked her door and headed for the galley. _A biotic's gotta eat, _she mused.

As it was only 0300, only a skeleton crew was even awake. She walked right up to the food dispenser and punched in several numbers, savoring the soft clang as the granola hit the bottom of the dispenser.

"Commander. Surprised to see you up this early,"

She turned around, mortified. _I should have put on my jumpsuit_ she frantically thought.

She spun around to find none other than the other resident biotic standing behind her, clearly amused to see the great Commander Shepard in her underwear.

"Kaidan, I should have you thrown in the brig for sneaking up on me like that!" She smacked him in the chest with her fist.

He caught her second jab gently and stared into her eyes. _Those eyes…_ she thought absently.

The warm amber depths searched her soul for a few seconds, then he cleared his throat.

"Shepard, you aren't getting much sleep, are you," he guessed.

"No… How can you tell?" she asked, hands on her hips.

"The bags under your eyes, the six granola bars, your general irritability…" he stated, ticking off on his fingers.

"Kaidan…"

"No. Go lie down. Get some sleep. You're pushing yourself too hard."

"I didn't…"

"Sam?"

"Kaidan, stop. It's that damn Prothean cipher. I keep having dreams. About the Reapers coming back."

Kaidan's facial expression abruptly shifted from mock concern to real concern as he pulled out two chairs at the table. They both sat down, and Shepard opened a granola bar, offering a second to Kaidan.

"Thanks," he said, taking just a bit too long to pull it out of her hand.

"Kaidan, what happened before Ilos…"

He held up his hand. "Not now, Shepard"

She sighed. _So NOW my subconscious tells me what's really bothering me…_

"I see the Reapers. Hanging in the sky over every human colony. They're killing everyone. Some colonies are razed from orbit, others overrun with husks. It's all so real and…"

She hung her head, eyes swollen and red.

"Shep… Sam,"

Kaidan reached across the space between them and gently lifted her chin until she was looking directly at him, tears running down her face.

"It's just like on Akuze. Death, blood, screams. I'm trapped. I can't move. I just have to watch. Again."

He pulled her into his arms, the warmth emanating from his chest seeping into her. She slipped her arms around his back, hugging him tighter, never wanting to leave his embrace.

Oddly, off in the corner of her thoughts, a small voice wondered _why does he smell so good?_

She smiled in spite of the emotions welling up, then buried her head in his shoulder again.

* * *

Samantha Joanne Shepard woke from a restless slumber to find her legs tangled in the sheets. As she struggled to sit up, it soon became clear those were definitely NOT sheets, and this was definitely NOT her room on the Normandy. There were instruments beeping and everything was obscured in a haze.

"There, on the monitor. Something's wrong."

She faintly heard several voices, but it was hard to understand. Suddenly her entire body was on fire. She reached her arm up to pull herself out of the bed, but a woman gently pushed it back down.

"Damnit, Wilson, give her the sedative!"

_Sedative? Wilson? _

As her mind struggled to process all that was going on, she felt another presence, this time a cool, comforting one, which draped over her like a veil. As the pain went away, she could vaguely make out a silhouette over her, looking down with the utmost concern.

_Kaidan?_

And then she was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**

Well, here's the second chapter. I really cranked this one out fast... And yes, the mirroring between the two parts was intentional. It's done though. For now. I am perfectly aware almost none of what occurs in the med bay here occurs in-game. I feel a compulsive need to spice things up. Explains my obsession with hot peppers...

Anyway, BioWare is the reason this series and its universe even exists, so anything in here besides the plot is theirs

* * *

**Narrows**

Chapter 2

The bed shuddered underneath Shepard, waking her from a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Before she even had time to roll over, the smell of smoke filled her nostrils and she bolted upright.

_Did Joker try to cook something in the med bay again?_

She hopped out of bed and strode to the door, wondering why the fire control systems hadn't kicked in, and got a face full of fire retardant foam for her efforts when it opened.

_This is bad._

"Joker! Sitrep!"

The voice came in, faint over the failing electrical system.

"We're hit! Some kind of cruiser by the LADAR signature!"

Shepard was thrown off her feet before she could ask how the hell anyone could find them, what with the stealth system, not to mention the complete lack of Geth they had found thus far. Her words died in her throat as the bulkhead next to her deck warped under the heat.

_Now we're fucked…_

She ran to her locker and jumped into the first suit hanging inside. She then ran outside to check the power couplings at the end of the crew hall.

She was reading through grim statistics with her mouth in a thin line when from around the corner ran her LT.

"Shepard!" he shouted over the din of venting compartments and screaming crew.

"Distress beacon is ready for launch," she said, hardly believing they even needed one.

"Will the Alliance get here in time?"

An explosion rocked the ship, sending Shepard stumbling into his arms.

She looked up at him, incredulous eyes visible even through the polarized visor of her helmet.

She picked herself out of his grip, which was surprisingly tight.

"The Alliance won't abandon us. We just have to hold on."

She grabbed two fire extinguishers from the floor, tossing one to Kaidan.

"Get everyone to the escape shuttles, Kaidan!"

He stopped spraying and turned to her, grabbing her shoulder.

"Joker's still in the cockpit. He won't abandon ship."

"Of course not…"

"I'm not leaving either," he said, squeezing her shoulder and piercing her visor with his gaze, his eyes sharp with what appeared to be fear.

_Fear of dying? Or fear of losing…_

"Kaidan," she said, shrugging out of his grip. "I need you to get the crew to the evac shuttles."

"Shepard…"

"I'll take care of Joker," she said, spraying the growing inferno with renewed vigor.

"Sam!"

"Go, Kaidan. NOW."

"Aye aye."

He ran out, towards the front of the ship, where the shuttles were.

She vaulted a fallen support beam and jabbed her finger at the holographic button on the distress beacon's console. It beeped almost sadly, and she turned towards the inferno in front of her. She hopped over bits of the ceiling, pieces of bulkhead, and even a few chairs from the galley, when a huge fireball blew her back down the stairs to the CIC. She got shakily to her feet and magnetized her boots.

This proved a fortunate idea, because as soon as she touched the space in front of the door it blew outward, taking with it the atmosphere left in the lower deck. As the fires died out, she looked overhead to see an enormous hole where the roof once was, beyond which was the planet Alchera and the howling dark. She tore herself from the terrible destruction and clanked across the floor, pushing aside floating debris and, with a lump in her throat, the bodies of a few unfortunate crewmembers. She reached the shield in place between the vacuum and the bridge, and demagnetized as she stepped through it.

"Come on Joker, we've got to get out of here!'

"No! I won't abandon the Normandy! I can still save her!"

Joker was livid, frantically stabbing buttons and cranking controls. Shepard had to admire his resolve.

"Joker, the Normandy's lost."

He turned in his chair, as though she had just insulted his pride.

_To be truthful, I probably did._

"Going down with the ship won't change that."

"Yeah… Okay, help me up," he said, and threw his arm around Shepard's shoulders.

She half-carried him to the evac shuttle, but halfway there a frantic alarm sounded on a console to her left.

"They're coming around for another attack!" yelled Joker, pulling towards his seat.

Shepard grabbed him around the middle and heaved him into the shuttle, where he landed with a small crunch.

"Ahhh! Watch the arm! He said, cradling his forearm.

Shepard turned to look out through the shield one last time at the ship that served her so faithfully, when an amber beam cut straight through the deck a foot away, shorting the generator powering the field.

"Shepard!" Joker yelled as the Commander was sucked backwards, away from the shuttle.

Shepard grabbed the nearest handle on the bulkhead, but the venting atmosphere kept pulling her. Without a second thought, she slammed a fist into the release button for the shuttle, which shot out of the side of the Normandy, Joker screaming silently through the porthole. As she drifted away from the crippled Normandy, Samantha Shepard thought sadly of the ancient custom of captains going down with their ships. She looked on as the ship tore itself apart in the gravity of Alchera's low orbit, but then she followed another lance of energy back to its source.

_My God…_

It looked almost like an ovoid chunk of rock with a metal cylinder straight through its long axis, and it exuded a malevolent air as it vaporized floating chunks of her ship. She felt a surge of anger and grabbed the nearest chunk of half-slagged metal with her biotics and tossed it fruitlessly at the ominous shape looming above. The force of the throw spun her around, and she sliced one of her air hoses on a large shard of metal.

_Oh shit._

She soundlessly grabbed for the hissing hose, flailing about in the uncaring vacuum.

_Oh God, Kaidan..._

_

* * *

_

The bed shuddered underneath Shepard, waking her from a surprisingly dreamless sleep. Before she even had time to roll over, the smell of smoke filled her nostrils and she bolted upright.

Pain lanced across her side, as well as across her face. She grabbed at her cheek, slamming back into the table she was laying on in agony.

"Shepard, can you hear me? Get out of that bed. This facility is under attack."

She clenched her teeth against the pain and sat up again, groaning and clutching her side.

_Who is that? Where am I?_

"Your scars aren't healed yet, but I need you to get moving," the voice said, a bit more forcefully.

She hopped off the bed, which was actually more of an operating table, and the room more of an operating theater. She looked around the room, wondering if she was still dreaming.

"There's an armor locker on the other side of the room. Hurry."

_Armor locker? In a med bay?_

She stumbled over to the other side of the room and sure enough, there was an armor locker with a bulky suit of composite armor inside. She stepped into the pieces and noticed that there was an N7 emblazoned on the chest piece. She dismissed this as another explosion rocked the room and knocked her over. A pistol fell from within the locker and landed on her head.

_You've got to be kidding…_

She quickly checked the pistol, noting it was a newer design, utilizing the newly-developed thermal clip system. It also happened to be missing one.

"This pistol doesn't have a thermal clip," she told the voice.

"It's a med bay."

_My thoughts exactly._

She made for the only exit, realizing a second too late that there were several oxygen bottles next to it in the center of a small fire. The resulting explosion blasted the door open and sent Shepard flying across the room, her kinetic barriers flaring. She hit a table hard, and blacked out for the second time.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note:

It has been a LONG time since I got around to writing this. I'd like to think Shepard spent the past several months knocked out after her last escape attempt. Which would make this the second time the mechs got out of control. Heh. In (un)related news, I'm calling this fic Narrows because Shep got railroaded to a narrow path: her alliance with Cerberus. Just in case someone cared. But I'm back writing ME stuff after my detour into Dragon Age. More to come! Oh, and that thing at the beginning? Backstory. You'll see.

* * *

**Narrows**

Chapter 3

* * *

**8 years ago**

The ship shuddered as it entered the planet's atmosphere, rattling Sam Shepard's teeth in her mouth. No matter how many times she did this, it always got to her.

_I'm screaming into the atmosphere of a planet at supersonic speeds like a meteor. I should not be sitting here, let alone breathing._

"Sam!"

She turned to her left, straining against the heavy-duty quick-release restraints holding her and the other twenty-three marines in their seats for the insertion.

"There's a whole ten centimeters of composite and titanium between the entry burn and us. No worries!" shouted James Cook, her longtime partner in crime.

"Doesn't make a difference, Jimmy! I've never liked this part!"

The small craft rocked again, buffeted by the winds above Akuze. Another boatload of Alliance Marines on another routine mission on another outer world.

* * *

**The Present**

Sam Shepard blinked groggily and spat out a mouthful of dust and floor.

"Shepard, what the hell are you doing in there?"

_I was wondering the same thing myself…_

"I'm here," she grunted, wiping pulverized ceramic-composite off her shoulder pads in a mostly useless gesture.

"Finally! I was afraid…" The voice trailed off.

Shepard looked around to see nearly nothing was left of the room she had woken up in. She reached instinctively for her sidearm and grabbed at air.

"You need to get out of there. Head out of the doorway and to your right. There should be a connecting hallway. I'll direct you from there."

_Perfect. _

Shepard hopped over what was left of the door and walked through a short hallway littered with corpses and scorch marks. She rounded the corner to find a security mech patrolling the next room.

ENEMY TARGETED

_Oh shit…_

She reflexively brought her arm up to bat the mech's arm aside and throw off its aim while she could close the distance, and was shocked to see it sail across the room with a plaintive AAAAAAAA.

She stared in wonder as the ex-mech flopped off the ceiling and fell down an unoccupied elevator shaft, then looked down at the blue energy playing across her forearm.

_Well, that was new._

"Shepard, head through the next room. There are a few more mechs, but nothing you can't handle with your pistol," the voice offered helpfully.

"I lost it!" she shouted, more to herself than to the voice, which apparently didn't have access to her microphone frequency.

She jogged down the hall into another room with several more robots pacing the far side. She looked down at her hands again as they registered her presence with alarmed WHOOPs.

_Here goes nothing_…

Jacob Taylor was having a shitty day. His usual morning breakfast had been cold, something about the microwave toaster's VI. He only made it through 200 reps before his shift, and then these damned mechs went psycho. One took a potshot at his head and he lifted it out of cover and nailed its optics before dropping it in a cluster of its fellows, where it immediately began firing at random. One lucky break. He vaulted a railing and ran across the bridge to a lounge before deactivating it and sending a few more metal bastards out of his life. He ducked behind the railing as a new wave nearly plastered him with fire and popped the heatsink out of his pistol. He turned to see any entrances to his new position just in time to see not one but three mechs careen out of the nearest doorway into a pile of smashed metal against the opposite wall.

Shepard sprinted after the last wave of robots in the hopes of snagging one of their handguns, but nearly caught a wall of bullets with her teeth. Her barrier flickered and she dropped behind the nearest cover, right next to a large, muscular man. Shepard flared her biotics.

"Who are you?"

"Whoa there Shepard. I'm Jacob Taylor. Here to help."

Shepard hesitated, then relaxed.

"We gotta get out of here. The voice told me so."

"The voice? You mean Miranda?"

"Sure."

Jacob stood up and blasted one mech's head off while Shepard crushed two more biotically.

"Exit's this way, Shepard. Let's get the hell out of…"

Jacob's omnitool flared into existence as a call came through.

"Jacob! This is Wilson! Where are you? Are you alive?"

"Wilson? You're still here?"

Shepard looked quizzically at him.

Jacob waved dismissively and began walking towards the door.

"Wilson? Where are you?"

"Server Room B! They're out of control!"

Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose as if shrugging off a considerable amount of stress.

"Shepard, we've got to get there."

"After you."

The comm crackled again.

"Shepard's alive? I thought…"

"She got out just in time. We're heading over there. Stay alive, Wilson."

Shepard and Jacob meandered their way through hallway after hallway, all of them strewn with twisted metal and the corpses of the former crew. Shepard averted her eyes.

_No sense dwelling. Get off the station first._

They rounded a corner and sure enough, server room B.

"Wilson should be just inside," said Jacob, stepping onto the touch sensor in front of the door.

It slid open, and several mechs turned to face them. Shepard rolled to the left, throwing a push their way, while Jacob unloaded his pistol. Caught in the lethal crossfire, the synthetics ceased to exist. Shepard and Jacob exited their cover in the hall and moved into the room.

"Over here," coughed Wilson, who was lying against the wall, a small pistol wound in his leg.

"Wilson, you good to go? We're heading for the shuttle bay."

"Not until I've had some medigel. The mechs swarmed and shot me! They're out of control!"

Shepard walked to a medical station on the wall, grabbed a pouch of clear gel, and tossed it across to Jacob, who began daubing it on Wilson's wounded leg.

"They shot you in the leg, then left you to die?" asked Shepard, folding her arms across her chest.

"I tried to shut them down. Their control circuits are housed in the servers, but somebody fried them. No fixing their targeting."

"YOU tried to fix them?" asked Jacob, incredulous. "You're Miranda's lab assistant. How would you know about military hardware?"

"I came here to fix this! I'm on your side!"

Shepard crossed the room in several quick strides and hauled the man to his feet.

"You're awfully squirmy for someone shot trying to help us."

Wilson squirmed harder, his feet dangling an inch above the floor.

"Shepard?" said Jacob, his eyes wide.

Shepard dropped Wilson, who quickly backed away.

_What the FUCK?_

"Looks like Miranda's upgrades work," said Wilson, who pulled open a locker on the wall. He tossed a pistol to Shepard, who promptly linked it to her heads-up display.

"Let's just get out of here. We'll decide what happened when there aren't mindless robots shooting at us."

With that, Shepard strode purposefully out of the room, a slight tingle running up her spine. She heard Jacob and Wilson scramble to keep up, and slowed down a little to stay together.

_Upgrades? Where am I? This place isn't Alliance._

She shook the thoughts from her head and pressed on into the next room, a cavernous space labeled DOCKING BAY 4.

_Well, at least I can still read._

A few stragglers tried unsuccessfully to halt the trio, but were crushed, shot, then thrown unceremoniously into the cargo bay below the shuttle bay. Wilson rushed towards the final door between them and escape, pulling out his omnitool to unlock it. The door pinged, and he dropped his hand toward his pistol as the door opened.

"It's right through here… Miranda?"

A tall, shapely woman in what looked to Shepard like body paint was standing in the doorway. She pulled her pistol and shot Wilson between the eyes before anyone could react.

"What are you doing?" yelled Jacob.

"My job."

Shepard lined up the woman's left eye between the blue hologram projected by her suit.

"Drop it."

Miranda turned to Shepard and holstered her pistol nonchalantly.

"Wilson was the traitor."

Shepard's aim wavered, then she lowered the pistol.

"I kind of figured that one out for myself. But why not punch him or something?"

"This is Cerberus. We don't take this sort of thing lightly."

Shepard had her gun back up and cocked by the third syllable of the terrorist organization's name.

"Tell me one reason I shouldn't put a hole in your face."

Jacob moved his hand toward his own sidearm and was knocked on his back for the effort with a wave of Shepard's hand.

"Maybe because we saved your life?"

Miranda put her hands on her hips and looked at Shepard as one might look at an insolent toddler.

"Shepard, you died. Two years ago. We've spent nearly all that time bringing you back."

"I... died?"

Shepard's aim wavered a second time, and she slumped over as her body began shutting down. Flashes of images jumped across her vision. The Normandy burning; Kaidan running towards the crew quarters; an enormous cigar-shaped ship pulsing its energy weapon across the shattered fragments of her ship. Shepard slumped to the floor as blackness overtook her once again.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note:

Super-short chapter this time. I don't really have time to write, between all the time twiddling my thumbs and all the time on FemShep chat. So yeah, I should write more. This is my first attempt at writing anything resembling a romance scene, so I kinda blew it (lol) but that's that. I'll work on it, especially for later Kaidan stuffs. I'm still working out the formatting as far as dialogue, narrative, and Shepard's thoughts, but I hope to have at least that nailed down by next chapter. So yeah. If you want to review, go right ahead. That'd be really cool.

BioWare owns Mass Effect, its universe,and its characters. I just write here.

Narrows

Chapter 4

* * *

**Akuze, 8 years ago**

Shepard picked herself up off the mat and turned to face the person who had so casually thrown her there just a moment before.

"James, it's about time you managed that. I was beginning to worry," she taunted, putting her hands on her hips.

"Samantha, I could do that any time I…"

But the words were barely out his mouth when he found himself curiously flying through the air like he was a baseball. Needless to say, James found himself screaming.

"OH SHIT!"

As he reached the apex of his flight, he faced the ground and braced for impact, but found nothing but a strange tingling as Shepard lowered him biotically to the ground.

"DON'T call me Samantha," Shepard fumed.

"Can't take a joke? Not even once?" he asked, winking at her.

She pushed him backwards, this time with her hand, until he was pressed against the bulkhead.

"Maybe I can let it slide," she purred, and moved closer, until her face was centimeters away from his. "Just this once…" She trailed off.

James reached his hand up to the back of her head, where her chestnut hair was pulled into a messy knot, and leaned toward her.

* * *

**Present Day, 2185**

Shepard blinked, and the memory was gone. She shook it from her head and focused on what was going on in the here and now. Which was apparently nothing. She craned her neck and lifted herself off the military-style bench she had been laying on and looked around the small room. A quick flash of memory had the room pegged as the troop cabin of one of the old 'Combat Cockroaches', a UT-47 Kodiak drop shuttle. The cabin was mercifully empty, and Shepard swung her feet over the side of the bench and got to her feet. She was wearing the soft underlayer of her combat suit, which was piled in the corner, no explanation as to how it got there.

_Okay, I'm in someone's shuttle, hurtling through vacuum._

That they hadn't shot her dead boded well for her future survival, but she wasn't taking chances. She grabbed her pistol off the pile of ceramic ablative plates and checked if it had a 'sink loaded. It did.

"Let's check on our guest," said a voice as the door to the cockpit opened.

_No, THE voice. From the station. M… M something._

"Ah, you're awake," said the man who followed the voice in.

_ J… Jacob?_

"Jacob and I were beginning to think the overload put you out for good. Those L5-n implants are touchy equipment. And you were redlining them all through thatlast fight."

"L... 5? My implants?" Shepard reached instinctively for the metal nub at the base of her skull. It was there, but it felt… different.

"Since your old L3s were, to be honest, scrap metal, we had to get new ones. Since we could implant them easily, we decided to give you L5-n implants. Top-of-the-line. Classified Alliance research still in testing," The woman said matter-of-factly.

"So I… have experimental implants that you… Cerberus stole from the Alliance?"

Shepard's finger strayed closer to the trigger of her pistol, which had drifted steadily closer to ready position as the two had entered the room.

"Yes. Our boss, the Illusive Man, gave us a virtually unlimited budget. He wanted you rebuilt better than before."

The way the woman said 'better' sent a chill up Shepard's spine.

_Or maybe it's the new implants…_

"So, who are you again?" Shepard asked, casually stepping towards her armor.

"My name is Miranda. And there's no need to be so hostile. We're on the same side."

"You work for a terrorist organization? And we're on the same side? You wiped out my entire fucking platoon on Akuze!"

Shepard raised her pistol and pointed it directly at Miranda's forehead. Jacob reached for his own handgun, but Miranda held out her hand.

"Shepard, don't stress yourself. You'll shut down again. That would be bad."

"Like you care. Turn this shuttle around. We're going to Arcturus station."

"So you can explain to the Alliance why you're not dead?"

"Dead?"

Images flooded Shepard's mind again. Kaidan. The Normandy. Joker in an escape pod, pounding against the glass… She shook her head to clear it. And Miranda was next to her, sitting her down on the bench. She peeled the gun out of Shepard's shaking hands and handed it to Jacob.

"We have a lot to explain to you," she said finally.

* * *

**Akuze, 8 years ago**

Shepard led James by the hand down the hallway from the gym. He eagerly followed.

"Sam, you know there are regs…"

"I said this one time, didn't I? Besides. The Captain's out running patrols with the rest of the squad."

She stopped abruptly and he bumped against her, which didn't help him maintain a straight face.

"James, Jim, Jimmy…" She said, trailing off.

"Sam?" he asked, confused.

"I… we…"

He pressed a finger to his lips and pushed her backwards through the door to her quarters.

"You started it." He said, his voice dropping low.

Shepard looked at him with the same expression she had just before they ever did something stupid, a combination of ridicule, mischievousness, and determination.

"Yes, I did," she said, and pulled him into a kiss.

* * *

**Present day, 2185**

Shepard sat in shock, poring over what Miranda had told her. She had, to the knowledge of the rest of the galaxy, died two long years ago. The Council, along with Councilor Anderson had downplayed the Reaper threat to assuage their populace, passing Sovereign off as a Geth creation. Her squad had split up; departing for the far corners of the galaxy, and a terrorist organization was the only group doing anything about the looming end of all life.

_I have the best luck._

Their shuttle pulled into the bay in another Cerberus station in deep space, and Shepard climbed out of the cargo bay, squinting in the suddenly blinding surroundings.

"Shepard, there's a bathroom down that hall. Clean yourself up and there's an armor locker across the hall. Meet me in the control center when you're ready," saidMiranda, ready with instructions as ever.

"Why?" asked Shepard.

"It's about time you met the Illusive Man."


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**

So this chapter is uber-short. I realize this. I have like five of them on the backlog that WILL get uploaded soon. You know, to make up for the glacial progress on this. At the very least, I haven't forgotten about Narrows, and it WILL get done before March 2012. Mark my words.

The universe and all its contents belong to BioWare. I just write here.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Akuze, 8 years ago.**

Sam Shepard and her partner in (now) more than just crime, James Cook, sat next to each other in the briefing room in the Alliance prefab bunker. Their "excursions" loitered in the back of their minds, as duty comes first when you're an Alliance Marine.

"We have a situation. One of our recon teams was out scouting about a hundred kilometers north and hasn't reported in for several hours. Normally, we'd send a small team, but this recon team was fifty strong," said the Captain, one Terrence Gordon.

"Uh, sir, why did you have a fifty-man recon team? Doesn't that ruin any sort of stealth signature?" asked a young corporal in the second row. Shepard could see his uniform read 'Toombs'.

"Corporal Toombs, that isn't important. What is is that fifty heavily-armed Alliance Marines disappeared off the face of the planet and we have to go find them. The whole company's going in. Lieutenant Shepard?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Get your unit ready. Mount up the Grizzlies."

"Yes, Sir."

* * *

**Present Day**

"How are you feeling, Shepard?"

"Like I'd tell you."

This wasn't going the way he'd anticipated. Shepard's file, compiled duly by Operative Lawson, made mention of her strong will, but not, to his annoyance, the sarcasm.

"Shepard, I assure you, we are on the same side. The Reapers…"

"Are out there, ready to exterminate all living beings in the galaxy. Spare me the lecture, Illusive Man."

Finally some progress. The Illusive Man had found a hole in Shepard's stone wall and he exploited it.

"The Alliance officially denies their existence, just like the Council. If we want to stop their return, we have to work together, Shepard. Whether you like it or not."

"You expect me to work with you? After everything you've done?"

Flashes of burning bodies; the acrid smell of burning ceramic armor; rivers of blood running across the surface of Akuze filled Shepard's mind. She violently thrust them back into her subconscious.

"Shepard, I know what happened on Akuze. That wasn't Cerberus. A cell went rogue, and we dealt with it harshly. It will never happen again." He said soothingly, as he brought a glass of whisky to his lips.

"Apparently not harsh enough. I had to clean up your mess two years ago. The maw experiments were still going on. I killed well over thirty Cerberus soldiers and scientists on Binthu. Were they rogue too?"

"Shepard, I assure you, we took care of that. They were not in line with our ideals and were in the process of being shut down when you rolled through."

"Bullshit."

"Shepard, we need your cooperation if we are to stop the Reapers."

"You will get my assistance. But not my cooperation."

Shepard stepped out of the holographic interface of the communicator and whirled around, nearly knocking the person standing behind her over. She quickly grabbed his arm to steady him and found herself holding Jeff Moreau.

"Hey, Shepard, long time no see," he offered, gingerly taking a step backwards.

Shepard cracked an enormous grin and pulled her pilot into a hug before she even realized she was doing it. She quickly released him, embarrassed, and rubbed the back of her neck.

"Joker? What are you…"

"Nice to see you too, Commander."

"It's been a long day, Moreau. I'm sorry I…"

Joker held up a hand to stop her.

"I get it all the time, commander. Women everywhere just can't control themselves around me. I understand," he said with a long-suffering sigh.

"I would have guessed. At least you're still the same sad sack."

"Sometimes change is good, commander. I think I've got an example right here. Follow me."

Shepard followed her old pilot, bewildered. He led her to a large pane of glass overlooking a dim hangar. She could just barely make out the outline of a ship suspended in the center of the cavernous space, but that was it.

"I give you…" Joker said as he tapped on a console, causing bright xenon lights to cascade over the ship, revealing a silhouette similar to… "The Normandy!"

Shepard stared in awe at the massive frigate hanging in space before her.

"So, that's ours?"

"Mr. Illusive, bless his wallet, gave her to me as a signing present."

"So that's why you joined a known terrorist organization. I should have known it wasn't because you're sweet on your old commander," Shepard said with a wink.

"Believe what you will, Commander," Joker said, suddenly serious. "The Alliance wouldn't let me fly. Something about an investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding the destruction of my last ship."

"That's bullshit. You're the best damn…"

"Believe me, Shepard, I've said the same thing a hundred times. Not even Anderson could get me approved for anything bigger than a skycar. So, I quit. And Cerberus was waiting."

"You do remember what they did, right Joker?"

"Of course. I'm never forgetting that time we had to extract you and Alenko from a Thresher Maw nest and the damn thing burned half the Normandy's paint off."

Shepard chuckled at the memory, but returned to the conversation.

"Why would you work for them? After all they've done?"

Joker looked out at the frigate hanging in space three hundred meters to his left.

"Because, like it or not, the Reapers are gonna ruin everyone's day. And Cerberus is out to stop them. Sometimes, you gotta do what's right. Even if it means doing what's wrong."

"That sounds like something out of the old vids."

Joker just turned and looked contemplatively at the new ship.

Shepard looked out at the ship again.

"It needs a name, doesn't it?"

"Could you get rid of the boss' logos too? I kind of feel like I'm handing out flyers every time I get dressed," said Joker, picking idly at the orange diamond shape on his uniform.

"Believe me. Those logos will be the first to go. I better go tell Miranda."

Shepard walked towards the door, but stopped just short of the hallway.

"Joker… Jeff?"

"Yeah?"

"It means a lot that you're here. The two of us against terrorists and galaxy-devouring ancient robots, just like old times." She said, cracking a half-smile.

"Yeah. The good old days…" he trailed off, still picking at Cerberus' logo.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note:

This probably gets pretty corny, but I have no idea how to write this sort of thing. The combat, though? That's fun to write.

Anyhoo, Cerberus is bad news. Srsly.

* * *

UPDATED 3/1/12

Yeah, what I said before was true. This chapter was damn corny before. It's been bugging me, and the roommate is keeping me up with snoring, so I decided to fix it. Found a few other things, too.

Examples: gratuitous F-bomb, redundancies, Crappy old setting/date format.

So now I can feel better, even though I can't sleep. Beats dodging spoilers on the forums at least.

* * *

UPDATED 3/1/13

Holy crap I updated exactly a year later. Time flies, huh? Well, now that ME3 has been out and we're looking at the end of it all (sob) I decided to take the story up again. Don't worry, I'm definitely finishing it. I edited this chapter to clear up inconsistencies in a few lore issues.

* * *

Chapter 6

Akuze

August 24, 2177

Shepard followed her platoon into the troop bay of the brand new M29 Grizzly the Alliance had dropped with them.

_Damn, it even smells new_

She dropped into the chair nearest the exit, right across the bay from James. A comm ping flashed in the corner of her helmet's HUD, on their old frequency. She tuned her suit's radio and nodded across the aisle at him.

"Sam, about earlier…"

"What about it?" she asked slyly, putting a hint of a purr into her question.

"I'm not sure we should have done it. I just… It's against regs." James said, looking slightly above her left shoulder.

"Getting cold feet? What happened to 'Fuck the regs, I do what I want'?"

"If I told you I didn't want to ruin our friendship, would you believe me?"

"That's my line, Cook." She smirked, then nodded at the pilot, who had begun launch prep.

"We're not done, Sam. We'll talk after the mission," James said with finality.

"Fine. We are marines after all. We have a job to do here."

The Grizzly ground over the sandy plains of Akuze at the head of the convoy, towards the previous marine detachment's last known location, a large plain one hundred clicks north.

* * *

February 3, 2185

Normandy SR-2

Deep Space, En Route to Sahrabarik System

"Doctor Chakwas? What are you doing here?!"

"Shepard, it is certainly good to see you too," the doctor offered, leaning back in her chair as she swiveled to face Shepard

"I can't believe you would leave the Alliance! Then again, I said the same about Joker…"

"There's your reason, Commander. I'd enjoy patching up your group of merry miscreants as much as the next Alliance doctor, but I'm the only one who's been taking care of Jeff for the last two years."

Shepard looked down at her feet, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"You didn't need to…"

"I did, commander. I couldn't just sit at Jump Zero or Elysium and patch up raw recruits while you and Jeff are out here saving the galaxy. This is what I want."

"Did they at the least set you up all right here?"

"I supervised the installation of everything here. If I wanted it, it was here within a day. They spared no expense. I just wish I still had… Oh, don't mind me," Chakwas trailed off, smiling wistfully.

"Doctor, what is it?"

"I had several bottles of contraband liquor smuggled in under the desk back on the SR1. No harm in telling you now, after what happened."

"Really, doctor?" Shepard asked bemusedly. "I would have never guessed."

"A lady needs her brandy, Commander."

Shepard walked out of Chakwas' office to find Miranda standing directly outside the door.

"Need me, Lawson?"

Miranda glanced down at the datapad clutched in her hand, then abruptly said "I see you're settling in!" with a forced gusto, then marched stiffly back towards her office, leaving Shepard standing in the hallway bewildered. She shook off the odd encounter and made her way towards the elevator, where she punched the button labeled 'Captain's Quarters'. The elevator buzzed slightly, and the doors whizzed open to a small landing with a polished door at the other end. Shepard stepped within the door's sensor radius and it whizzed open as well, revealing a large room lit light blue from an enormous water-filled tank on one side.

_Holy crap, I have a fish tank._

She stepped into her office area, which was, for the moment, empty save a computer terminal and a blinking datapad. She picked this up and read the message it held.

Shepard

Welcome to your new ship. I trust the deal we reached satisfies you. You will hunt down and exterminate the Collectors while we determine together what their ties to the Reapers are. We cannot allow another Freedom's Progress to occur. I have enclosed six dossiers for building your team. We cannot afford any mistakes, so this will be a multilateral mission. The dossiers are as follows:

She read through the enclosed dossiers, noting that they included a Krogan warlord, a dangerous incarcerated biotic, and a vigilante on one of the most dangerous stations in the galaxy.

_Does the Illusive Man think I'm insane? Probably._

She tossed the datapad back on the desk and went to lie down on the enormous bed a short distance away.

"Commander?" The comm system pinged overhead.

She sighed, then stopped.

"Yes?"

"My name is Kelly Chambers, I'm your new executive assistant, and I'm supposed to take you on a tour. I'd prefer not talking through the comm system"

"Fine. Come on in."

Shepard altered her course and sat down on a couch. It was oddly comfortable for a military vessel. As she sat down, a perky redheaded woman practically bounced in through the doorway and sat down at the other end of the couch, obviously overflowing with excitement.

"As I said, I'm Kelly Chambers, your new assistant. It's an honor to work with you, Commander," She offered her hand, which Shepard shook lightly.

"Likewise, Ms. Chambers."

"Please, call me Kelly," she bubbled.

"Okay, Kelly"

Kelly smiled from ear to ear and may have even giggled a little at her progress in befriending the Commander. She stood up, motioning toward the elevator.

"I am here to show you the ship. We can start at the bottom and work our way up!"

Shepard pushed herself to her feet and followed the woman into the elevator, turning to look longingly at the bed as she left.

_Soon, Sam. Soon._

* * *

Akuze

August 24, 2177

The convoy entered the area the last patrol dropped off the map in to find a long expanse of flat ground, undisturbed except by small mounds here and there. The lead Grizzly, containing Shepard and her immediate squad, plowed through the sand and came to a rest near the approximate center of the field. Shepard hit the release on her chair, then on the rear door. The marines filed out, with two in the back carrying their short-range scanner, which they set up ten meters from the M29.

"Fan out. We need to find whatever they might have left behind."

Shepard waved her men in all directions, and they split into three-man squads to better search. Shepard stood at the center, scanning the horizon with a pair of weathered binoculars until her view was blocked. She put the binoculars down.

"Lieutenant, we're trying to set up the comm relay, but we're getting some serious interference from the area," said the radioman.

"There could be a deposit of lead or magnetite here. You can compensate."

"That's just it. Every time we try to compensate, the interference shifts to block our transmission again. I think someone is actively jamming us."

Shepard felt a rising sense of wrong creep up her spine as she surveyed the squads around her.

_Someone is JAMMING us?_

Suddenly, one of the Grizzlies moving on the perimeter of the field disappeared in a cloud of dust. Shepard spun toward the noise and caught a glimpse of neon blue and green moving in the cloud.

"All squads, retreat to the Grizzlies. We're not alone here!"

All she got in response was a faint hum as the channel was squelched by whatever was jamming them. In desperation, Shepard ran inside her Grizzly and smacked the siren on its dashboard. The air was immediately filled with the piercing noise, but the ground began to tremble as well. Outside, the marines around the field turned around to see what was going on, only to be knocked flat as the tremor shook the whole field. Shepard turned the siren off and walked to the back of the vehicle just as the ground under the nearest squad exploded.

"What the hell is…? AUGHGHHGHHHH…"

"It's everywhere!"

"Shoot it! Shoot..!"

Shepard could only watch in terror as at least seven monstrosities rose above the surface of the planet, like flowers from hell. As she watched, the closest one speared two marines on its forelegs and vomited a noxious acid on the rest of the squad. All across the field, marines began firing at the beasts, which only hastened their demise. Shepard sprinted out of her Grizzly as it was smashed by one of the creatures, and turned to launch a ball of biotic energy at it, only to find another troop carrier spiraling through the air towards her. She leaped to the side as it landed in a heap of melted metal.

"Retreat! Everyone, off the flat ground!" she yelled into her helmet, broadcasting on all bands.

She received only static.

"Fuck!"

Shepard tore off her helmet and unholstered her standard-issue M7 Lancer assault rifle. She turned to the nearest monstrosity and squeezed the trigger until the rifle overheated, which drove it back underground momentarily. She sprinted over to what was left of the squad it had been occupied with.

"Soldier, report!"

The least injured soldier, a sergeant she recalled as Robinson, answered.

"We took two casualties and merged with delta and hotel squads. There are ten men here. Three immobile."

"Sergeant, we are bugging out."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

They began the run towards the edge of the field, but found it blocked by two more of the things. Shepard noted curiously a small reflection from the top of the nearest hill, but quickly ignored it.

"Focus fire on the left one!" Shepard yelled.

The uninjured marines began emptying their weapons into it, but it turned towards them and roared, launching a steaming blob of acid towards the survivors. Those who could dived aside, but the injured bringing up the rear were covered and simply dissolved. Shepard shook off the horrifying sight and tossed a grenade into the beast's open maw, then detonated it. Several of its tentacles were blown off and it screamed in pain, falling to the side.

"Run!"

The marines, now down to six, sprinted past the thrashing creature. Its partner, however, had just finished off another squad and turned towards its next meal. It grabbed one of the marines and ripped her in half with its tentacles, then swiped at the rest of them, sending them tumbling. Shepard righted herself and screamed to her squad.

"Go! I'll hold this thing off!"

She sprinted towards it, batting aside its acid with a biotic blast. She flipped her pistol from its holster and continued running, firing as she went. The creature roared and whirled its sharp tentacles at her, forcing her to leap over, losing her smoking pistol. Shepard activated her last four grenades and prepared to throw when she noticed out of the corner of her eye a single working Grizzly bearing down on her. She tossed all four grenades at the monster, which stunned it just long enough for her to glance at the vehicle barreling her way. Through the half-melted windscreen she saw James Cook, fire in his eyes, face bloody, hands on the controls.

"James…"

The vehicle slammed into the side of the creature, severing its head with the twisted remains of the cockpit and opening a clear path out of the carnage. Ignoring her exit, Shepard ran towards the vehicle and clambered inside through a gaping hole in the rear. She slid over the wreckage inside and found her best friend sitting in the driver's seat.

"Thought you'd never make it, Sam," James wheezed.

"That was insane, Jim."

"I can't let the LT get killed now. Looks bad on my after-action report."

Shepard grimaced, shaking her head.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"Sorry, Sam. No can do."

Shepard looked down and saw what James was pointing to. His left leg was gone from the mid-thigh down, eaten away by the creatures' acid.

"I saved you. That was my job. I can die happy."

Shepard blinked back tears and grabbed his hand.

"James…"

"You went through medical too. It's fatal. Don't waste the medigel."

Shepard reached into her hip pocket and grabbed a syringe. She stabbed it into his leg before he could comment.

"You're not dying here." She said dejectedly.

"Shepard?"

He lifted her chin gently with his hand, and stared at her, his ice-blue eyes full of emotion.

"I love you."

"James, I… Shepard forced a smile, and a tear slipped out of the corner of her eye.

Shepard leaned over him and hugged him as hard as she could. He squeezed her hand weakly, letting out a soft sigh as life left his battered form.

Shepard pulled away, taking his dog tags with her, and stumbled from the wreck.

On top of a nearby ridge, a sniper raised his scope three degrees, lining the projected reticule up with the torso of the battered marine climbing out of the Grizzly. He moved his finger, meaning to squeeze the trigger, but his spotter tapped his shoulder.

"Don't waste the shot. Maws will handle her,"

He hesitated, but nodded, and the two black-armored soldiers packed up their rifles and spotting equipment. They silently hauled everything back to a small unarmed buggy and drove off, but not before sending a simple message on a heavily-encrypted channel.

"Test Complete"

This message was routed across the galaxy, bouncing from one system to another before finally popping into view on an orange screen in a dark room. The man sitting in front of the screen put down his whiskey and tapped the button marked 'open'.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's Note:

It has been QUITE A WHILE since I last uploaded. That would actually be an understatement. Rest assured, I have not forgotten about this story. Life just has a way of getting IN the way. As far as the actual progress I have made? I've definitely got the drafts of up to chapter 15 done. So there's at least that.

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful and deep universe that BioWare created for Mass Effect. I don't even own any of these characters, save a few OCs and Shepard herself. So there.

Also, I would really appreciate it if anybody would leave a review. Constructive Criticism is AWESOME. And I don't mean that in the 'If you say I suck I'll ignore you' or the 'Please only give me transparent praise' way. If you see something wrong, tell me. That's why It's up here and not in some back corner of my hard drive!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

February 3, 2185

Normandy SR-2

Deep Space, En Route to Sahrabarik System

Sam Shepard snapped awake tangled in her sheets, sweating.

_Well, it's good to know the therapy worked._

She half stumbled out of bed and over to her desk to check the seemingly endless flood of emails she had been receiving.

"Up to twenty this morning. Perfect."

She read through a couple requisition requests the Petty Officer had forwarded and deleted a couple spam messages, but came across one that got her attention. It was from Anderson. Shepard read it through several times, trying to make sense of it all. He knew she was alive, knew she was with Cerberus, and even had her mail account. He was also asking her to come to the citadel to explain herself.

_Finally, some sense._

Shepard banged out a quick message to Joker regarding their next port of call and got up to shower down by the crew quarters. As she walked towards the door, she stepped on a recessed pressure pad and the wall next to her office slid open to reveal a large bathroom complete with a shower. Shepard gawked.

_This is so against regulations._

She hesitantly stepped inside and peered around. Satisfied it wasn't _that_ opulent, she stripped off her undershirt and undergarments, and tapped the water control. The jet hit her like ice and she flipped the temperature control angrily.

_Well, at least now I'm awake._

* * *

January 7, 2183

SSV Normandy

Docking Bay 7, Gagarin Station, Sol System

Jeff "Joker" Moreau fiddled with one of the numerous user controls embedded in the ship's software, seemingly oblivious to Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko's approach.

"Joker?"

"Yeah?" he replied, not even turning his head.

"You hear we're getting a new CO?"

"The Captain may have mentioned it. Some war hero or something. A transfer from the Okinawa."

"Can't be any worse than our last one," Alenko offered, nudging Joker's shoulder.

"It's not my fault she was hot!" Joker exclaimed, raising both hands above his head.

"And I'm sure it wasn't your fault she wound up breaking three of your ribs."

"Worth it."

Kaidan closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You're absolutely the worst example of an Alliance soldier I have ever seen."

"I'll take that as a complement. Now if you're done antagonizing the guy in charge of not ramming the ship into the nearest asteroid, I have work to do."

"I just wanted to get your opinion, Moreau,"

"So did our ex-XO."

Kaidan marched out of the bridge without a word, nearly knocking their Captain over.

"Staff Lieutenant, what's the rush?"

"My apologies, Sir, my mind was elsewhere,"

Anderson looked intently at the Staff Lieutenant, then glanced over his shoulder at the pilot, who gave a jaunty wave.

"You don't appear to be busy, so I would like you to give our new CO a tour of the ship. This is Lieutenant Commander Samantha Shepard."

A small, but determined looking woman with chestnut brown hair pulled into a messy bun shook his hand. A subtle change in his magnetic field told him she was a biotic as well.

"Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, at your service ma'am," he offered.

She pierced him with the greenest eyes he'd ever seen, as though examining his thoughts. The subtle field surrounding her pulsed slightly, then she seemed to relax.

"It's a pleasure, Alenko," she said with a low, almost smoky voice that gave him something else entirely to think about.

"Lieutenant Commander Shepard will be taking over for Commander Wulff." Anderson stated.

Kaidan let go of Shepard's hand and, with conscious effort, avoided her gaze.

"Then Wulff won't be back?"

Anderson looked over his shoulder in the direction of the bridge with disdain, then simply said "No."

"Shame, she was just starting to get acclimated here," Kaidan said with the barest hint of humor.

"It will be good to work with another biotic," Shepard said suddenly, confirming Alenko's earlier suspicions. "I haven't had the chance before."

"Well, I guess I'll be the one to do you the honor," Kaidan said thoughtlessly.

* * *

February 3, 2185

Normandy SR-2

Deep Space, En Route to Sahrabarik System

Miranda stood impatiently next to the holographic galaxy map in the center of the Normandy SR2's Combat Information Center. When the Commander stepped from the elevator in a freshly-pressed Alliance Captain's uniform it was all she could do not to make a face. She stuffed the emotion back into her subconscious and stepped towards Shepard.

"You're late, Commander," she said, with more venom than she had intended. She quickly gave a small smile to offset it.

"Did you know I have a bathroom, Lawson?"

Miranda inwardly frowned at the odd statement, but kept her features outwardly neutral.

"It was included in the design for the Captain's quarters. The SR2 is not standard military design."

"Obviously." Shepard scoffed, then walked off towards the armory.

"Shep… Commander?"

"Lawson?"

"You have several items on your itinerary for the day. You aren't scheduled to visit Operative Taylor until after lunch…"

"Miranda, I have an assistant already," Shepard said, motioning over to Kelly Chambers, who smiled brightly back.

"I… yes, Commander."

Shepard turned away and walked toward the Armory door. She looked back, but Miranda had already entered the elevator. She continued into the armory, where she found Jacob Taylor standing in front of a fully disassembled M-29 Incisor.

"Just got three of these in this morning, Commander. State-of-the-Art. It'll put three rounds in the head of your target in the same time another rifle would put one."

"Do we even have any marksmen aboard?"

"Not yet, but that should change soon. As I understand it, we've got more crew incoming."

"Your boss sent me a few potential recruits," Shepard said, picking up a large pistol with a mounted laser sight. "How many of these you got?" She asked, waving the handgun.

"He's your boss too."

Shepard glared at him, nearly setting his uniform alight. Jacob held up his hands and backed away, hastily changing the subject.

"Only two. That's an M5 Phalanx. Top secret Alliance development. I pulled a few strings with some friends to acquire those."

"Can I have it?"

"The other one's yours, Commander," he replied, pointing to an unassuming black case on the table in the center of the room.

Shepard flipped the clasps on the case and opened it to see another pistol, this one shiny and new. She pulled it from the foam insert and examined it.

"I think I love you, Mr. Taylor," she breathed, letting her fingers settle on the molded grip.

"You're welcome, Commander."

After a thorough weapons examination, Shepard proceeded to the engineering deck, where she chatted with the engine techs, Ken Donnelly and Gabriella Daniels. The two of them introduced her to the enormous power core, which occupied the entire back section of the ship.

"She's quite a sight, eh Commander?" Donnelly lilted, his Scottish accent giving his every word personality.

"That she is, Donnelly."

"She's the heart of the Normandy. And EDI's the soul."

"EDI?"

A holographic ball on the end of a stalk popped into existence over the nearest console.

"Hello, Commander. I am EDI, the Normandy's artificial intelligence."

Shepard immediately tapped her comm link and pinged Miranda.

"Miranda, get this EDI thing off the ship."

EDI's holographic projection drooped slightly.

"Have I offended?"

Miranda sighed and tapped a button on her desk.

"Commander, we can't just take the ship's AI out."

_Honestly… _she thought, _It's like Shepard didn't even read the manual…_

"She was fully merged with the ship's systems this morning. I would have told you that had you stayed to talk."

"AIs are illegal, Miranda. I personally killed over 800 Geth. I destroyed the Reaper Sovereign, and I even shut down the Alliance's Hannibal VI, which nearly killed me with only partial sentience. I want this thing gone."

"I pose no threat to you or your crew, Shepard," interjected the AI. "I am limited to providing tactical advice and controlling the ship's point-defense GARDIAN lasers in a combat scenario. I am further restricted by blocks embedded in my programming."

Shepard eyed the projection suspiciously, then sighed.

"Fine. But the moment I hear anything resembling madness, I'm tearing the AI core out myself."

Joker took that opportunity to announce their arrival at the Citadel and Shepard trooped to the elevator with a few of the engineers. It was time to get off this madhouse.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's Note:

I actually got this one out fairly quickly. I blame the lack of real ME3 info we've gotten. Now, to business. This is rather short, and only has one perspective. It is, however, long for the fairly schizophrenic way I write. Expect chapters to come to be less… linear, as I like to jump around and have a few storylines at once. I'll try to keep it at two or three maximum. Let me know how that goes!

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful and deep universe that BioWare created for Mass Effect. I don't even own any of these characters, save a few OCs and Shepard herself. So there.

Also, I would appreciate it if anybody would like to leave a review. Constructive Criticism is AWESOME. If you review, I'll build a totally non-creepy and very tasteful shrine to you. It'll only be a few candles. I swear.

* * *

Chapter 8

April 13, 2183

Alliance Frigate SSV Normandy

En Route to Eden Prime, Utopia System

"I'm to be put forward for WHAT?"

Shepard took a step back away from Captain Anderson and the Spectre, a Turian she knew as Nihlus.

"Your conduct and tests thus far have been exemplary, Commander. You would make a fine Spectre, if you maintain this level of performance," said the Turian, his voice metallic even through Shepard's autotranslation filter.

"This is more than a PR move, Shepard. You have an indomitable will and the sheer luck to get through just about anything. You deserve this opportunity," Anderson chimed in.

"Do I get a say in this?" Shepard asked, incredulous.

"Of course, but this is a great honor, even among my people. We Spectres are peerless warriors, worthy of the highest honor. That I would recommend a human at all speaks volumes for your skill."

_Great. Perfect. The Turian Spectre thinks I'm awesome._

"I certainly hope I'll have some time to get ready. My hair is just dreadful right now," Shepard said idly as she rubbed at the base of her scalp.

"You have at least three more missions before we even consider it. You will have plenty of time, Commander."

_At least he got my joke… _

Joker's voice blasted over the comms, breaking the awkward silence.

"Incoming message from Eden Prime!"

* * *

February 3, 2185

Normandy SR-2

Dock 15A, Omega, Sahrabarik System

Shepard followed Ken and Gabby out of the Normandy's airlock and was immediately struck by a wall of hot, humid air.

_It smells just like shore leave…_

She grimaced and pressed onwards as the group of engineers in front of her headed towards a small bar near the entrance to the docks.

"Hey, you! You're new here. I can always tell. My name's…"

A Salarian with red-rimmed, crusty eyes and a twitchy demeanor, symptoms of extreme Red Sand addiction, stumbled up to her and made to grab for her arm. She pulled it away as a tall, muscular Batarian strutted out of the nearest doorway.

"Leave, Fargut. NOW."

He stroked the large pistol at his hip ominously. Fargut's eyes opened wide.

"Okay, Moklan! Whatever she says!"

The Salarian gave a shaky salute and scrambled off down the hall.

"Fucking scavengers… Welcome to Omega, Shepard."

"You know me… how?"

The Batarian, Moklan, tilted his head to the right as if inspecting her before answering.

"You can't just walk onto Omega without Aria finding out who you are, where you're going, and if you need killing."

"And Aria is?"

"Only the most powerful woman on Omega. She's in Afterlife."

He motioned over his shoulder at a large building covered in pulsing lights and leaking a steady stream of music.

"She wants to talk. I would advise you to listen."

"Right now? Or do I get a couple minutes to rehearse?"

Shepard smirked at the Batarian, who seemed to develop a crick in his neck and leaned his head to the right almost unnaturally far.

"Afterlife. NOW."

With that, he strutted away, obviously pleased to have had the last word. Shepard turned towards the thumping music.

_Well, why not?_

As she began to walk, Jacob and Miranda came up behind her, with a third man in tow.

"Shepard, this is Zaeed…" began Miranda.

"Massani," the man cut in, extending his hand. Shepard shook it.

"I've got a deal with your employer. Looks like you're my boss for the time being."

The man was wearing what looked like fifty-year-old armor patched together with both new and old parts. He had a large scar running down his cheek and up into his right eye, which Shepard noticed was milky.

"Good to have you, Zaeed. I'm sure Miranda can get you set up inside our ship."

"I've got a bit of business that's in my contract. The unfinished kind."

Shepard looked at Miranda with resignation in her eyes. Miranda studied a dent in the nearby wall.

"I'd love to hear all about it, but I have an appointment. Miranda will have it sent to me when I get back and then we'll talk."

"Sure we will," Zaeed scoffed before ambling off after Miranda.

Jacob turned to Shepard as they walked toward Afterlife.

"Not smart, antagonizing the mercenary."

Shepard feigned terror, flailing her hands.

"Oh no! What will the first human Spectre do against the big bad mercenary?"

"I get the point, Commander. But we have to work with him. Best make him comfortable."

"I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Taylor."

Shepard and Jacob soon found themselves at the entrance of the club. An enormous holographic sign flashed AFTERLIFE in every conceivable language above the door, where a line of hopeful-looking people waited to get in. Shepard walked right up to the elcor bouncer, who looked blankly at her approach.

"Aria asked to see me?"

The large alien looked her up and down, then slowly replied.

"(Bored repetition) That's what they all say. (Compulsory question) What is your name?"

"Commander Shepard."

The elcor appeared as startled as possible, which wasn't much.

"(Surprised greeting) Hello, Commander Shepard! (Sincere apology) Sorry to inconvenience you. Go right in."

Shepard stepped around the elcor, much to the chagrin of the hundreds still in line, and slipped in through the doors, Jacob in tow.

"Looks like I was on the list," she said wryly.

"I should follow you around more often, Shepard," marveled Jacob.

Shepard weaved her way through the crowded dance floor, thankful she had left her armor on the ship. She followed the contours of the building until she reached a large set of stairs flanked by two vicious-looking Turians armed with assault rifles.

One of them looked vaguely at her, then motioned up the stairs. The other one simply glared at Jacob.

"Friendly group," he said, as they climbed towards Aria.

"At least they weren't Krogan."

On cue, they reached a landing, which contained not two but three fully-armored Krogan. A rather small Batarian pushed from behind one of them and strode up to the two humans.

"I'm Anto. You're late. Aria doesn't like to wait."

"Sorry, we had a little trouble getting in. This is a pretty exclusive club."

Anto stared daggers at her with his top pair of eyes while his lower pair studied a portable scanner.

Shepard pulled out her brand new M-5 Phalanx and waved it at the Batarian.

"If you're looking for weapons, you'd better look harder."

"Not weapons. DNA scan." The scanner beeped and lit up green. "You may proceed."

Shepard stepped around the surly alien and walked up another flight of stairs. At the top was a small landing flanked by dancers and containing a large leather couch, a table, and a solitary Asari.

"Aria, I presume?"

The woman remained silent and simply gestured towards the sofa. Shepard stepped forward, but a guard materialized out of nowhere and pushed Jacob back onto the stairs, leveling a shotgun at his chest. Shepard sat on the couch and crossed her legs.

"Welcome to Omega, Commander Samantha Shepard."

"How did you…"

"I always know, Shepard. It's my job. But you want something. Everyone wants something. And they all come to me."

"Because you run Omega?" Shepard asked jokingly.

Aria chuckled a little, then got up and faced towards the open end of her platform which overlooked the entire club. She held out her arms as though indicating her domain.

"I _AM _Omega."

_So she does. Another egomaniac. Perfect._

"I'm the boss. The CEO. Hell, the queen if you're feeling dramatic."

Aria sat down languidly and stretched herself out on the couch. Shepard sat up straighter, her omnitool's HUD just now marking the snipers set up around the building.

"Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule," Aria continued.

"Don't **FUCK** with Aria."

"I'll try to remember that," Shepard replied, suddenly feeling out of place.

"If you forget, someone will remind you," Aria purred. A few laser dots danced across the couch next to Shepard's lap.

"Then I toss your sorry ass out the nearest airlock," said Anto, brushing past Jacob before taking his place behind Aria's end of the couch.

Shepard cringed at having got herself into this mess, but internally steeled herself. She turned towards the Asari.

"I need to find someone."


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note:

It's been a while, and ME3 is just around the corner, so to speak. If I want this done, I'm going to have to get on it. Speaking of which, all those chapters I keep saying I have done? Yeah, still 'done', but I gotta revise them all first. Not to mention write more. So we'll see. But currently, my plans are to (somehow) finish this off by March 6. Famous last words.

Disclaimer: I do not own the wonderful and deep universe that BioWare created for Mass Effect. I don't even own any of these characters, save a few OCs and Shepard herself. Yep.

Also, I would appreciate it if anybody would like to leave a review. Constructive Criticism is AWESOME. If you review, I might consider NOT setting fire to my couch. So, you know, review. Please.

* * *

Chapter 9

April 15, 2183

SSV Normandy

Low Orbit, Eden Prime, Utopia System

Shepard sat in the mess, both hands clasped around a cup of coffee. She stared into its murky depths sightlessly.

_I don't even like coffee…_

The crew bustled around her, going a million places at once. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

_And now the headache's back._

"How are you holding up?"

"Fine," she lied, turning to see the newest addition to her team, one Ashley Williams.

"You don't look fine, Commander," Williams said, looking at her with concern.

"Chakwas said I just need some rest. I've been through worse."

"Alenko is really sorry for poking at the Beacon," Ashley offered.

"He's told me that at least five times already, Williams."

"He probably just wants to make sure you know so you don't throw his ass in the brig."

"Maybe I should, just to make sure it doesn't happen again," Shepard said with a smirk.

"Chances are we won't find another Prothean Beacon, Commander," Alenko said from behind her.

Shepard spun in her chair and nearly spilled her coffee.

"I didn't mean…"

"That's all right, Commander. I have a sense of humor."

"I would hope so, LT. From the looks of it, serving under Shepard requires one," Ashley said, earning a glare from her XO.

"In my professional opinion, this conversation is getting too informal too quickly. Williams, I'm sure Anderson has orders for you. Alenko, help me back into the med bay."

"No fair! Just because I'm the new girl…"Ashley complained as she stalked off towards the bridge.

Shepard threw her arm around Alenko's shoulder and he hauled her to her feet.

_He's very strong…_

"You're very strong…" she said without thinking.

"Thank you, Commander," he said, without missing a beat.

Shepard kicked herself internally and simply walked the twenty feet to the first bed on the right, where she sat down for what would surely be another restless sleep.

"Thank you for the assistance, Alenko."

"Of course Commander." He turned to leave.

"Wait…"

Kaidan turned around again.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry about what happened. About Jenkins, and the Beacon, and giving you and Anderson all this paperwork. I should have been better prepared. I should have…"

"Stop it, Commander. You did everything right. This was just one of those missions you can't blame yourself for. If Anderson thought you had messed anything up, he wouldn't have written the report he did. Besides, it's Saren's fault, not yours."

Shepard sat on the bed looking at her knees for a moment, a dark cloud over her vision before it cleared and she looked back at the LT.

"You're right. Thank you, Alenko,"

"Of course, ma'am."

* * *

February 3, 2185

Sublevel 4C

Omega, Sahrabarik System

* * *

Three mercenaries hopped over a low barricade at one end of the bridge. They quickly fanned out, taking cover behind several crates. One poked his head out to get a better view, then signaled to his companions to move up. One by one, they entered the line of fire.

A single twitch of the finger and the first one dropped without as much as a sigh, the new hole in his forehead leaking blood and brain matter. A quick cycle of the chamber, and the sight settled on the second mercenary as she signaled wildly. One more shot, and the last one was alone. He took one last look at the building he had intended to assault a minute prior and a piece of metal, no larger than a tack, entered his skull at extreme velocity. The sniper cycled the bolt one more time and watched almost lazily as the red-hot heatsink flew to the side. He sat back against the wall and removed his targeting visor. The names etched on the inside stared back at him, a constant reminder of his failure. He would not let them die in vain.

* * *

Shepard, Jacob, and the mercenary, Zaeed, stepped out of the car. Another in the seemingly endless line of surly Batarians stepped out of the shadows and inspected them, taking much longer to run his eyes up and down Shepard's body.

"Well now, it looks like somebody sent the entertainment. About time."

Shepard casually pulled her shotgun from her back.

"I'm not the entertainment. Unless you like watching burning snipers." She said with a smirk.

"After what we've put up with, I'll take it," he said, obviously disappointed. "Head up the stairs and around the corner. Sergeant Cathka will fill you in."

"Thanks."

Shepard motioned Jacob and Zaeed forward, and they passed dozens of mercenaries. Shepard only caught bits of conversation, but it appeared this Archangel character lived up to his reputation. They were all on edge. As they meandered down a narrow street filled with Eclipse mercs, the doors to a garage whisked open to reveal several mechs, including an enormous YMIR.

"We're gonna have to fight back through this. If we could make this ugly bugger easier to swallow, we stand a better chance," offered Zaeed in the first sentence he had spoken since they had met.

Shepard looked at the imposing figure, and her eyes drifted to the open console next to it.

_I was never much for tech. Good thing Kaidan installed that hacking tool on my…_

She grabbed at her wrist to find the Omnitool didn't snap into place as it usually did.

"Here, let me," offered Jacob, who opened his own microcomputer.

Zaeed leaned nonchalantly outside the room, appearing as bored as possible while Jacob worked what little magic he had. In the end, through combined effort, Shepard and Jacob managed to completely erase the mech's targeting data, which was better than nothing.

"Soon as they activate that thing, they'll get blown the hell up," Zaeed spat, shortly before actually spitting.

The trio pressed on into the center of the mercenary encampment. Once, they turned a corner to find a squad of ex-Blue Suns sprawled across the ground, a neat hole in every blue-armored helmet.

_Not many snipers are that precise. Not even Garrus could have done that on a normal day._

They avoided the open ground the sniper had killed the group on by detouring through what had once been a pawn shop. Shepard entered the room and slammed head-on into an angry looking woman with a trendy haircut.

"Watch it!" the woman spat, shoving Shepard out of the way.

"Dammit, Jentha, get these freelancers out of here. I have had it up to here…" said a squat-looking Batarian in scarred, worn blue armor.

"What's eating your ass, Tarak?" Zaeed shouted from the back of the room.

Tarak did a double take.

"Zaeed? I didn't think you'd work for so little."

"And I didn't think you were a goddam madman," Zaeed offered helpfully.

"It's this damn Archangel. He's driving me insane." He turned to his assistant. "Jentha, talk to these guys. Tell them what they want to know."

Jentha grimaced and walked over sullenly. Tarak turned back to Zaeed.

"Zaeed, good to see you. Don't end up dead."

"Likewise."

Shepard and her squad spent the next few minutes going over the plan for formality's sake, then were shuffled out the door by Jentha with a stern 'shouldn't you be going?' They found themselves in the hangar, where a pompous-looking Batarian, also of the Blue Suns, was smoking a cigar and banging a wrench against a beat-up A-61 gunship.

"You Cathka?" Shepard shouted over the din.

"Sergeant Cathka. You'll show some respect, freelancer." He said without turning around.

"I was sent…"

"Go wait with the others. You know the drill. Cross the bridge, kill the fucker, get paid. Die on the way, get nothing."

"Sergeant, I'm not here to blindly follow you. I want details."

The Batarian whirled around to give another smart-mouthed freelancer a piece of his mind and found himself staring at three of the most well-armed people he had seen all week. The cigarette dropped from his mouth.

"Wow. Looks like you three could actually fight."

He proceeded to outline the plan, and mentioned the gunship behind him being the key. While Shepard kept him busy, Jacob biotically bent three of the reinforcement struts on one of the wings. As they walked away, Shepard heard Cathka let loose a string of obscenities. Zaeed smirked and Shepard gave Jacob a small smile.

* * *

On top of the building three hundred meters away, Archangel peered through his scope at the three new mercenaries. None of them looked like the rest. He scanned the first two, both of whom were human males, and both of whom appeared to be using high-end military equipment. He moved his sight to the third and nearly dropped his rifle. Was that..?

* * *

Shepard and her squad leaped over the barricade behind another squad of mercs, who were effortlessly eliminated by Archangel.

"This guy's good," said Jacob.

"But we're better," Shepard said, pulling her pistol out of its holster.

She flicked on the laser sight and took aim at the base of the nearest merc's skull.

"Now or never, Shepard," informed Zaeed.

She squeezed the trigger and immediately dashed for the door. Two mercenaries were arming a small bomb to blast it open, and Jacob was there to help them along. A quick flash of his omnitool and they went up along with the door. Shepard dashed through and put two rounds into a third mercenary who was climbing through the window. Zaeed sprayed the rear door as it too blasted open. They made their way to the second floor amid confused radio chatter and finally cleared the last door to find the sniper sitting casually on a crate in the corner.

"Archangel?"

The sniper, a Turian, removed his helmet and flexed his mandibles into what was unmistakably a smile. Shepard caught a glimpse of blue face paint and targeting visor and immediately knew.

"Garrus!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms open in surprise.

"Hey, Shepard," Garrus replied in his distinctive gravelly tone.

"I leave for a few years and this is what you get up to? That's got to be half of Omega out there just trying to get in!"

"Got to keep my skills sharp," he said, almost sadly.

"Garrus, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Commander. Just a bit in shock. You are dead, after all."

"That's what they tell me."

"So what's your big plan? Bust in, rescue your pal Garrus, and bust right back out?"

"Probably not the best plan I've ever seen. But then again, neither is squatting in a goddam corner and waiting for the worst of Omega to skin you alive," Zaeed groused from the far corner of the room.

"Friend of yours, Shepard?"

"That's Zaeed Massani. He's on our side."

Zaeed saluted haphazardly.

"And I'm Jacob Taylor. Ex-Alliance," Jacob stepped forward and offered his hand.

Garrus shook it quickly.

"Ex-Alliance?"

But then an anti-tank round flew over Shepard's head and ended the dialogue.

"Shit. I thought we had them all tangled up for at least another few minutes," Shepard pouted.

"They brought out that big goddam robot. Let's watch the fireworks," Zaeed groused from his corner.

Shepard grabbed a spare sniper rifle off a nearby bookcase and set it on the windowsill. She stared through the scope and watched the YMIR deploy… and immediately light up everything in sight. Mercenaries flew to pieces as the machine rampaged back into the encampment, leaving the bridge clear.

"Looks like there's our exit. Nice job, Shepard. Let's follow that thing out before…"

A whirring sound filled the air.

_Of course._

The gunship from Tarak's garage zoomed into view, pouring missiles and, to Shepard's delight, engine smoke.

"I thought I took that thing out yesterday! Doesn't look like they got it working completely yet though."

"You can thank Mr. Taylor here, Garrus."

Jacob bowed, and Blue Suns poured in from the roof. Shepard biotically grabbed the first one down and tossed him right back where he came from, while Garrus and Zaeed mowed down the others. Zaeed tossed a grenade into the center of the horde, gave a jaunty wave, and dove behind a crate as they evaporated. The gunship circled around and blew the roof off their position, but caught its wing on a piece of wall. Shepard dived low as the machine shot overhead, bowling mercenaries and furniture aside before it slammed into the lobby below. The immediate threat burning downstairs, Shepard and Garrus got to their feet and walked to the edge of the new hole in the floor. Shepard let out a low whistle, then held her fist up to the Turian. Garrus stared curiously at it, seemed to remember something, and tapped it cautiously with his own fist. Shepard smirked. They both turned back to the broken gunship.

"ARCHANGEL!" Tarak yelled from the hulk.

_Crap._

Shepard dived to the side as he triggered one last rocket, which arrowed up towards them, impacting against the crossbeam above Garrus. Shepard got to her feet and, not seeing her squad searched the room, before noticing a small pool of blue behind an overturned, scorched chair.

"Garrus?"

She ran around the chair and found him in a pool of blood, rasping for air. Zaeed sauntered into the room before noticing the casualty, then rushed over, medigel at the ready. Jacob sat up on the far side of the room, covered in dust, and stood up.

"Zaeed, stabilize him! Jacob, call for evac!"

Shepard crouched down next to her friend, fear etching her features, and began administering all the help she could.

"Come on Garrus. Don't die on me…"


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note

Welp, I've got nothing done here. First the wait for news on ME3, then the friggin' FemShep Trailer? Productivity, killed. I'm definitely not finishing this in the 20 or so days before the 6th. THAT DOESN'T MEAN I QUIT. I'm getting this done if it kills me. Which it won't. Because it's just bits of data. Lovingly crafted bits of data.

Ooh, and that thing at the end? Yeah, OC nonsense. Cerberus shenanigans. My own canon. I've gotta have something cool to run with after I finish the ME1 arc, right?

Yeah, I don't own anything here, blah blah blah standard disclaimer. If BioWare was out for copyright infringement on these fics, We'd be out of business.

* * *

Chapter 10

April 21, 2183

Normandy SR1

Upper Atmosphere, Therum, Knossos System

"Comm check," Ashley Williams said into her helmet's microphone, to which the other three figures packed into the small area tapped their own links.

"This is going to be a hot drop, Commander. The area around Dr. T'Soni's last known location is covered in IR signatures."

"Got it Joker," Shepard said, settling into her seat in the cramped confines of the Normandy's M-35 Mako IFV. Garrus was settled into the pilot's seat, readying for the drop. Ashley and Kaidan were already strapped into the rear of the vehicle.

"Commander, I think this is yours," Kaidan said, handing her a shiny new M-23 shotgun.

She took it and slapped it against the magnetic slot on her back before pulling her own restraints tight.

"Drop zone is twenty clicks out. I'm already getting the first of the welcome basket."

In case there was any question, the ship rocked suddenly, hit by Geth anti-air. Shepard tapped a recessed button on the side of her helmet.

"Get us in there, Joker. Hate to keep those Geth waiting."

Garrus tapped the ignition and the Mako's oversized Eezo core turned over, humming softly through the cabin. The hangar doors opened and the scorching atmosphere of Therum howled inside like a hurricane.

"I should probably tell you, Commander. This is my first drop in a human vehicle," Garrus growled over the comm channel.

"Now you tell us this?" Ashley shouted incredulously from behind Shepard.

Shepard's heart beat twice as fast.

"Here's the DZ. Hope you have a pleasant stay," Joker called over the radio.

Garrus punched the accelerator and the Mako plunged through the open door. Shepard's heart jumped into her throat as she grabbed her restraints with white knuckles. Garrus calmly tapped a few buttons and the vehicle leveled out in Therum's turbulent clouds.

_Shit shit shit _Shepard thought, her mind once again flashing to flames and impact.

As they hit the minimum safe altitude, Garrus hit the jets and Shepard slammed against her seat. The Mako dropped to twenty meters, and Garrus let off the thrusters, letting the oversized shock absorbers take the rest of the drop.

"Not bad for your first drop," Kaidan said from the back seat, patting Garrus on his armored shoulder. Shepard released the death grip she had on her chair and began breathing normally again.

"You okay, Commander?" Ashley offered.

"I never liked re-entry."

"That's what she said, Commander," Garrus said suddenly.

All three humans stared at the Turian, but he never got to answer their unspoken question. The Mako jolted to the side, its shields drained to half by a Geth siege pulse cannon.

* * *

February 4, 2185

Normandy SR-2

Dock 15A, Omega, Sahrabarik System

Shepard sat at her desk, looking forlornly at the small model of her ship hanging in the display case in front of her. She was deep in thought when the door to the captain's cabin whooshed open softly.

"Shepard?"

Shepard twitched slightly, startled out of her reverie. She turned to find her favorite Turian standing in front of her. The left side of his face was covered in bandages, and he seemed to stand as though his entire side hurt.

_Which it probably did._

"Garrus! You're ok!"

Shepard impulsively leaped from her chair and grabbed the startled Turian around the waist, pulling him into a hug.

"Shepard, what are you...?"

Shepard immediately released her friend, who stared quizzically back. Shepard took a quick step away.

"Sorry, Garrus," she said, blushing. "I was worried. It's my damn fault you got hit."

"And it's my damn fault I was even there. I should have seen it coming, Shepard."

They walked over to the small sitting area, and Garrus settled stiffly onto the couch across from Shepard.

"You should have seen the mercs coming? Weren't you the reason they were there in the first place?"

"Not exactly. After you disappeared, I re-enlisted with C-Sec. I remembered what you taught me about the greater good and thought it would give me purpose. Something good for the galaxy."

His expression changed to one of anger; regret.

"But time and time again they buried me in red tape. I couldn't handle it after all the freedom with you. I quit."

He hung his head in shame and stared at his pointy Turian knees.

"Garrus, you can't just quit when things don't go your way," Shepard said, pouring two glasses of water.

Garrus gave her a funny look and took one.

"I went to Omega. It's a shithole filled with the worst criminals in the Terminus Systems. I figured all I had to do was start shooting and I'd be doing the galaxy a favor. Turns out there were other people with the same idea. We started a little mercenary band of our own and made life hell for Omega's gangs."

"And they managed to corner you?"

"Someone tipped them off. I left to go after a lead on the Blue Suns, and when I came back, my team was dead and I was surrounded. I had been there for three days when you found me."

"Who tipped the gangs off?"

"That bastard, Sidonis," Garrus snarled, fire in his eyes and poison in his words.

"Sidonis?"

"He was my support specialist. Never met a chaingun he couldn't make magic with. When I got back, his corpse wasn't among the dead." Garrus looked over at Shepard's empty fish tank as if trying to ignite it.

"How do you know he wasn't killed too?"

"He pulled his share of our credits out two days before the battle. I didn't think anything at the time, but now I know the asshole sold us out. I lost everyone but him that day, and now I'm going to find him and fix that."

* * *

February 4, 2183

Laboratory

Unidentified Research Base, Deep Space

The man on the table twitched suddenly. The white-gloved scientists around him immediately sprang to work, their attentions focused on his rapidly increasing heart rate. The body on the table was barely functional, yet somehow it lived. As the scientists whirled around his prone form, the man's vital functions slowly began their return. His heart, half replaced with tubing and silicon, began a steady thumping, while his lungs, both artificial, slowly filled with the station's Nitrogen/Oxygen mix. As neurons fired down the length of his spinal tissue, the electrical impulses of his being passed unhindered through flesh, bone, metal, and circuitry. Despite the extensive damage and years of being dead, here he was, miraculously alive. The lead scientist, a balding man in his early sixties, tapped this note into his datapad and flipped the message offscreen with a swipe of his fingers, where it was routed through hundreds of encryption and decryption algorithms before finally arriving at its destination, a space station five hundred light years away.

The man who received it flicked his wrist in an almost dismissive manner as the message appeared on one of his many screens. The message was clear; concise.

**_Lazarus is a success. James Cook is alive._**

He smiled almost imperceptibly, and reached for the glass of bourbon on the arm of his chair.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's Note

Hey, look, Another chapter in a decent amount of time? Weird. I bet it's because they keep getting shorter. Don't worry, they get much longer later on. I don't aim for a length, I just pull the trigger and write.

Nobody reads these author's notes, so I'm going to list, in alphabetical order, my favorite yellow fruits.

1) Banana - a classic.

2) Lemon - not to be eaten raw

3) Pineapple - arguably not yellow

Only several (more than 20) thousand words between me and ME3. At least that's what I predict. Enjoy!

Also, I would appreciate it if anybody would like to leave a review. Constructive Criticism is AWESOME. Every single review will result in me contributing $10 to the _Pay For cgrimm54's Food This Week Charity_. So, you know, I'll pull it out of my wallet, then put it back in. It's the thought that counts!

Yeah, I don't own anything here, except Shepard. And some o' them OCs. Because I can. And the rest is BioWare's baby.

* * *

Chapter 11

May 3, 2183

Underground Chamber

Zhu's Hope, Feros, Theseus System

"That's… big."

"Understatement of the year, Commander," said Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams as she stared up at the object looming ominously above her.

Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Ex-C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian pounded down the stairs behind them and halted to give the object similarly mystified looks. At the head of the group, Commander Samantha Shepard stared in blatant disbelief at it.

"Is that… the Thorian?"

"I think so, Garrus," came the reply.

Shepard turned to her LT, who had thrown himself behind this theory, and gave him a quizzical look.

"So this… blob is what has been taking over colonies, attracting Geth, and ruining the paint on the outside of my ship?"

Ashley was suddenly forced to stifle a laugh and the mental image of the grotesque creature sitting atop the Normandy, covered in mucous. She was unsuccessful.

"So how do we kill it?" said the only Turian in the group, idly stroking the trigger on his rifle.

"Hell if I know… Salt?"

"Be pretty funny, Commander," said Kaidan, miming throwing a handful of the stuff at the creature.

As soon as he had hypothetically hit the Thorian with his imaginary 'weapon', the creature let out a loud groan, followed by a wet squelching noise. It shuddered violently, cracking the walls to which it had adhered centuries before.

"What is it… oh god,"

The creature had moved what resembled its mouth towards the platform they stood on and expelled a fleshy sack onto the stone with a sickly splat. The sack wriggled, then burst, expelling the least logical thing possible: a greenish-looking Asari in full combat gear.

"I've seen just about enough of this. Let's just… go," Shepard said, looking greenish herself.

The Asari got to her feet and turned to face them, a curious look on her face.

"Invaders," she said, without emotion, or manners. "Your every step is a transgression. A thousand feelers appraise you as meat, only good to dig or decompose. I speak for the Old Growth, as I did for Saren. You are within and before the Thorian. It commands that you be in awe."

"Awe? I can't really be in awe of a big space blob," Ashley said quietly to Garrus, who discreetly flicked the safety off his rifle.

"Hi, big, uh… Thorian. Listen, you gave something to Saren. I need it," Shepard said hesitantly.

"The knowledge of those who are gone. The Old Growth listened to flesh for the first time in a long cycle. Trades were made. The cold ones began killing the flesh that would tend the next cycle. The Old Growth sees the air you push as lies, and will listen no more."

"I actually just came down here to your… lair after wiping out those 'cold ones' you were talking about. I need the information so I can stop Saren, the 'flesh' who betrayed you."

"No more will the Thorian listen to those that scurry," said the Asari, both dramatically and ironically. "Your lives are short, and have gone on too long!"

With that, she pulled a shotgun from her belt and took a single step, which was all the time necessary for Garrus, who had been lining up the shot during her entire speech, to bestow upon her a brand new breathing hole in the center of her forehead. The Asari slumped backwards off the platform as the blob shuddered in what was most likely rage.

"Plan, Commander?" Said Ashley, pulling her rifle from its spot on her back and looking tensely at several shambling green humanoids who stumbled around the nearest corner.

Shepard quickly looked up at the Thorian and the method with which it had anchored itself; six fleshy appendages secured to the chamber's walls.

"We cut the bastard down."

* * *

February 5, 2185

Mordin's Clinic

Plague Zone, Omega, Sahrabarik System

Shepard and Miranda marched into the clinic, immediately surprising the receptionist, a young woman who was clearly running on stims and caffeine supplements.

"I need to see Dr. Mordin Solus," Shepard said purposefully.

"He's a bit busy," She said, indicating the slew of Turians, Batarians, and Salarians in various states of bleeding and coughing filling the waiting room.

A third man stomped up and deposited a Batarian roughly on the counter. The alien was clearly delirious and stared at her with listless eyes.

"Down the hall, to the right,"

The three humans and their sickly companion headed around the corner, and just as the receptionist was about to reach under the desk for a concealed packet of sim-chicken, a fifth man strutted into the lobby carrying a worryingly large rifle.

"Can I help you?" She said, hoping to god he wasn't here for a fight.

_The doctor certainly handled the last one well, _she thought, glancing over at the pile of body bags in the corner.

"I'm looking for three humans and one goddam sick Batarian," the new arrival spat.

"I sent them around the corner. And please," she said indicating his rifle. "No weapons."

The guy in front of her turned deep scarlet and murderous in about three nanoseconds, then suddenly, as if remembering something, slipped the rifle into a sling on his back with a scowl. He was mercifully gone a second later, and the receptionist reached for her afternoon snack.

Shepard strode into the doctor's lab to find the Salarian frantically zipping about.

"Um…"

"You have a new patient? Yes, I see. Put him over there," he said, waving his arm in no particular direction.

Shepard motioned to an empty gurney, where Jacob deposited the Batarian.

"Excellent. Now get more." The doctor said, immediately connecting the Batarian to six different machines and sending three messages on his omnitool.

Shepard merely put her hands on her hips. The doctor bustled about for twenty seconds, then stopped dead.

"What are you still doing… No. Too heavily armed. Military grade armor. Sudden appearance. Here for Aria?"

Shepard attempted to answer, but was cut off.

"No, not using usual radio channels. Squad configuration all wrong. Too much data. Wait… yes. No. Yes."

"I'm Commander Shepard. I need your expertise for a mission," she cut in.

"Shepard? No. Shepard dead. Alliance has no reason to be… Weapons match. Insignias… Here because of human colony attacks?"

Shepard and her squad were collectively stunned. Except Zaeed. He remained leaning against the doorframe, completely nonplussed.

"How did you…"

"All in the details, commander. Surprised you are working with Cerberus. Especially considering past."

Miranda looked questioningly at Shepard, who waved the unanswered query away.

"Would you…"

"Would greatly enjoy the challenge. However, have plague to deal with. I am sorry."

As if on cue, the lights in the facility flickered. A warning popped up on Mordin's omnitool. Shepard sensed the incoming task, and headed it off.

"Why isn't it ever easy? Why can't I go to get someone and they say 'sure, let's go. Right now.'"

"Life is a series of compromises, Commander. You of all people should know."

"So what do you need me to do before you'll join me?"

"Vorcha shut down life support. Turn back on. Also, get resupply of cure to my assistant. Should find him near Oxygen turbines."

"Is that all?"

Mordin surveyed his lab as if taking stock of all it contained.

"Yes."

* * *

February 6, 2185

Normandy SR-2

En Route to Mass Relay, Sahrabarik System

BEEP!

Shepard feebly flopped her hand out from under her sheets toward the sound.

BEEP!

Her hand contacted the offending object, which fell obstinately to the floor.

BEEP!

_Goddamnit, _she thought.

BEEP!

Shepard threw the covers off of her body and swung her legs over the side of the bed, sending a jolt of pain up her right calf and toward her pelvis.

BEEP!

She flung herself madly at the small metal cube lying on the rug, pressing the side in slightly to shut off the noise. The alarm clock was then thrown unceremoniously into the corner.

_Tough crowd today…_

Commander Shepard, Hero of the Citadel, stumbled blearily towards her private bathroom, removing clothing as she went. The shower sprang to life as she careened through the sliding door and immediately drenched her in a scalding spray of recycled H2O.

_Much better, _she thought, settling into the warmth.

Not fifteen minutes later, the Commander was fully dressed and exiting the elevator at the Normandy's CIC. All of four crew members looked up and saluted briefly. The time was 0530.

"Commander, I have three new messages for you. I sent them to your terminal," came the bubbly voice of her Yeoman, Kelly Chambers.

"You're awake? You're supposed to be here at 0600."

"I had EDI wake me up when you did. I… wanted to make sure you had everything you need," Kelly said, the pause in her statement audible.

Shepard looked her over wearily, then turned toward the Galaxy Map.

"I can handle things for a half-hour without you, Kelly. I appreciate the effort, but you need sleep like the rest of us."

"I… yes, Commander," said Kelly, looking crestfallen. She turned to leave.

Shepard sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Kelly, I didn't mean it like that. It's just… I get up this early so I can enjoy the quiet. I actually don't even read the messages until the rest of the crew gets here. It isn't your fault, Kelly."

The yeoman looked suddenly very serious and moved closer to Shepard. She put her hand on the Commander's shoulder and looked deep into her eyes.

"You view this half-hour as an escape? Your haven from the turmoil of the galaxy?"

"Uh… yeah, I guess…"

"Say no more. I will be here at 0600 tomorrow. We can't have you getting stressed."

"So that's it? No more hard feelings?"

"Shepard, I may be your glorified VI, but I have a degree in psychology. You need your time."

* * *

June 18, 2183

Laboratory

Unidentified Research Base, Deep Space

"It's time."

The voice was hazy and seemed to almost float through the fog surrounding him. He suddenly realized that he was… oh, what was the word…

ALIVE

He found the raw emotions and sensations that had occupied his being for what seemed like forever ebbing away, and then they were replaced with a new state of being. One of constant pain. He tried to banish the pain, to slide it aside like he had been trained to do so long ago. Like he had trained to do in the…

His mind struggled as it was brought back from the ether of nonexistence. As it reattached itself to his body, the memories came suddenly back.

Like he had trained to do in the Alliance Marines! He was an Alliance Marine, whatever that was. But no, there was a name.

_James Cook._

Was it his? Yes it was. And another.

_Samantha Shepard._

Also his? No, it was the name of another. But who?

As James' mind slowly pieced itself back together, the technicians in the lab around his body monitored his progress. Phrases like _"Fascinating!" _and _"Miraculous!"_ filtered through the recycled air. They had brought a man back from death. One might say they had touched the face of God.

* * *

**Author's Second Note:**

So, I was going back through, and if you thought this chapter was short before, you should have seen old chapter 12.

650-some words.

Yeah, middle school paper-level short. Not to denigrate the middle school writing assignment.

So, I threw it on the end of this one, fixed some formatting craziness, and reuploaded.

I think it'll be much nicer this way. And it'll make the massive chapter after it make more sense.

What's that? Chapter 12 is massive? Yeah, it is. Virmire is kind of important like that.

:P


	12. Chapter 12

Author's Note:

Well, now. This was damn fun to write. Too damn fun. But now I've got ME3 behind me (metaphorically) and I'm stuck back here in this fic. This presents an interesting challenge; as I have to somehow finish this while knowing the end and where it all goes. I'll do my best.

As always, I less-than-three reviews. Tell me how much you hated/loved it, and what I can do to make it better/worse/not the ME3 endings. I'd thank you personally, and from the bottom of my heart.

Mass Effect belongs to its writers, its developers, and the fantastic folks at BioWare. Sam Shepard belongs to me.

Chapter 12

May 16, 2183

Krogan Cloning Facility

Sector 15, Virmire

Kaidan Alenko crouched knee-deep in murky, polluted water. Despite an experience in his training that had forever ruined any interest he had in military explosives, let alone the Alliance's EOD program, here he was. Arming a nuclear bomb.

_Shepard really knows how to have fun._

As he executed a program on his omnitool, he thought back to the planning stages of this assault. They had landed on Virmire amid heavy antiaircraft fire, plowed through several platoons of Geth, and even taken down a few Armatures on foot after blasts from a siege cannon flipped the Mako. And that was before Shepard and the Salarian, Kirrahe, had drawn up this assault.

He had to for once agree with Wrex on this one. When, of all people, an 800-pound Krogan thinks your plan is crazy, you might need to reassess.

_Shepard can talk anyone into anything…_

His musing was interrupted by the soft ping of his omnitool, which had successfully connected to the Salarians' mass effect drive, their jury-rigged improvised nuclear device. He shook off the illogical ramifications of that and began uploading new firmware to the engine's internal computer. Elsewhere, a large explosion went off, followed by the unmistakable pull of Shepard's biotics as she released a blast of dark energy.

_Another poor Krogan decided to get in her way…_

Kaidan chuckled at the sheer irony of a Krogan being defenseless against the relatively small woman he served under.

_But not UNDER under. Dammit._

He gave himself a mental kick and began to stare at the progress bar again. As it moved glacially, he imagined what Chief Williams was doing right now.

_Probably singlehandedly holding off Saren's entire Geth army while the Salarians grab lunch._

Ashley Williams had always been an excellent soldier, but under Shepard's command, she had her chance to shine. She had saved the asses of her crew on multiple occasions, once engaging a Krogan in a fistfight after her weapon overheated, once climbing on top of a Rachni warrior and turning its acidic spit against its comrades and at least twice holding off more than ten mercenaries at once while he and Shepard were otherwise occupied.

_The woman deserves a medal. Hell, she deserves ten._

The upload finished, and the bomb's screen turned red.

_Saren's got quite the storm coming. I almost feel bad._

Kaidan tapped the diagnostic function on his wrist and imagined the two women, Shepard and Williams, descending on Saren. The thought scared him.

"Alenko, you got that bomb up and running?" Shepard called over the radio.

He glanced at the readout. It flashed green.

"All set, Commander. One improvised nuke, ready to go."

"Great. We're almost at Williams' position." He heard an explosion.

Kaidan leaned back against the spheroid he had been tampering with. With Shepard around, it was almost _too_ easy.

"LT, you got three bogeys coming toward your location," Ashley shouted over the radio.

"Three?"

"Well, it was six, but they decided to pass over the tower I'm holding with the Salarians,"

"Thanks for the help, Williams,"

"Anything for you, LT,"

Kaidan turned to check if the squad around the bomb had heard and they gave him the thumbs up. He took position behind the bomb as several Geth dropships roared overhead. The first one opened its jaws and expelled around fifteen Geth. They were immediately cut apart in a deadly crossfire from the entrenched marines.

"Alenko, you need assistance back there?"

"Negative, Commander. We can handle defending the bomb. Go get Williams,"

No sooner had Kaidan said this when the second and third dropship whined into view. Oddly, they appeared to be conjoined, almost like mating dragonflies. As the oddly shaped craft came closer, Kaidan's blood ran cold. The two ships were carrying the largest Armature he had ever seen. It was at least four times the size of the dark blue ones he could so easily render harmless with a lift technique, and painted bright red.

"Is that a colossus?" said one marine.

"No, those are white. And half that size." Said another.

_Well, shit._

The Armature unit crashed to the ground with a sickening thud, cracking masonry and sending a small tidal wave down the length of the drain they had set up in. Kaidan checked his pistol, which was all but useless, and looked back at the bomb.

Commander Samantha Shepard flipped out of cover and buried two slugs from her shotgun in the nearest Geth. She hopped over its twitching form and tossed a biotic warp at the sniper targeting Wrex, crushing its chest between rapidly oscillating mass effect fields. The Krogan, free of enemy fire for the moment, took the opportunity to reach over his cover and grab a white-armored shock trooper by the head. He whipped it over the concrete barrier with enough force to strip its arms and legs off. Garrus dodged the flying limbs and fired yet another immaculate shot through a trio of troopers that had clustered around Tali.

"Shepard, about us having the bomb covered," Kaidan said over the radio.

"Yeah?"

"We don't."

Shepard emptied her pistol into a nearby trooper and looked back in the direction they had come. She radioed Ashley.

"Hey Shepard," Ashley replied almost gleefully.

"You hear that?"

"What?"

"Kaidan is getting heavy pressure from the Geth. He can't cover the bomb."

"Well, get back there and… shit."

"This is hardly the time for that."

"Shepard, I think you should take a look at this,"

Ashley sent her helmet camera's feed to Shepard's HUD. Over mounds of Geth in various states of dismantlement, Shepard could see two indistinct red blurs.

"Hold on, let me wipe that off,"

Ashley wiped Geth fluid off the camera lens and Shepard saw what she had been talking about. Two Armature-class Geth, each about fifteen meters high and blood red.

"The Salarians just hit one with anti-armor. Barriers are still up. And they're between you and us."

Shepard called up Kaidan's feed. The camera was focused on the bomb's casing. The screen flashed to read ARMED.

"Shepard, I started the countdown," Kaidan yelled into the comm channel.

The camera panned back up to another of the red monstrosities, which was in the process of decimating the cover around Kaidan's squad. Shepard cringed.

"Ashley, can you get around behind them?"

"Negative. They've got our location. We need to…"

An explosion large enough to shake the ground under Shepard went off and Ashley's channel cut to static. Shepard stared openmouthed as a huge cloud bloomed from the tower they had been headed towards. Garrus grabbed her armored shoulder and tugged.

"Commander, there's nothing we can do. We have to make sure that bomb goes off."

Shepard shook herself and snapped back to reality.

"Yes. Right."

She turned her back on the ruined structure and a fire ignited in her eyes. That bomb was going off.

Kaidan tossed another warp at the red machine bearing down on him, but the warped spacetime dissipated against what seemed like impenetrable shields. His squad had been cut down in seconds and the only thing between him and death was the bomb's super-dense casing. The entire area seemed to rock as another blast of white-hot plasma roiled against his only cover. He looked up at the timer.

2:13

Two minutes until the end of the world. He peeked around the bomb to check on the beast hunting him and immediately received a blast of energy from one of its smaller cannons. His helmet immediately began to melt and he ripped it off, tossing the useless slag heap into the water. The Armature slammed a leg into the gravel three meters away.

_This is it._

He closed his eyes and imagined his home back on earth; his parents smiling from their rustic cabin on the edges of the Canadian wilderness. It beat tropical hellhole any day of the week. He felt an odd pull towards the imagined building, almost the same as the one he felt when he let off a biotic display. But it was far too strong to be biotics.

_Must have been the Armature killing me. Funny, it didn't hurt…_

But then, nothing happened. The imaginary house remained in his mind, and he still felt the muck surrounding his boots. He opened his eyes again and peeked around the bomb to see, of all people, Commander Shepard. Looking relieved and covered in viscous, white Geth hydraulic fluid, she reached for his hand like an angel carrying him to the afterlife.

_Am I dead?_

She hauled him to his feet and he looked over her shoulder to see his answer in a smoking heap of twisted metal lying against one of the area's walls. Wrex scowled at him and kicked a chunk of red armor into the swirling water.

"Normandy, this is Shepard. We need immediate pickup at the bomb site. Have Chakwas and the medical staff ready for wounded."

"Aye, Commander. What the hell did you do down there?"

The Normandy screamed overhead and pulled a quick turn to open its cargo bay to the survivors. Garrus and Tali carried a smoking Liara in, followed by Wrex, a few stray Salarians, and finally Shepard and Kaidan. Shepard handed him her helmet and was about to step onto the ramp when a flying object knocked her off her feet. Saren banked around on a hovering platform and turned to address Shepard, who dove for cover.

"You have done very well so far, Shepard. I'm impressed. And so are the Reapers. You broke into my office and spoke to Sovereign, so you must know the stakes."

"We live or we die, Saren. Those were always the stakes. And I don't plan on dying."

Kaidan and Garrus grabbed their weapons and began to climb back outside the cargo bay, but a sudden blast of biotic energy from Saren sent them back towards the Mako in the rear of the bay.

"That was the point I was going to make. We choose our path. However, the Reapers do not allow us the luxury of unlimited choice. If we fight them, we will die just as the Protheans did. What I have realized is that we cannot defeat them. Sovereign has shown me the light, and I can finally see. We should join their side! Do not fight the inevitable! If we join them, we will live on as their allies!"

"So he indoctrinated you too? You goddamned idiot!"

"The indoctrination is subtle, but absolute. I have been studying its effects. As you bend to the Reapers, you lose any independent thought. But if you make yourself valuable, they cannot indoctrinate you. To do so would jeopardize your value. They are machines. They think in pure logic! By making myself their ally, I have saved myself from destruction!"

"You've spat on everything the Spectres stand for! You would lie down and die at their feet! Screw that! I'm fighting!"

Shepard stood up and faced Saren, her green eyes locked on his cybernetic blue ones. Joker's wild yelling filled the headset dangling from her neck.

"Come back to our side and we can fight them! The Reapers are just machines! And machines can be broken."

"You have proven yourself quite the talented biotic today, Commander," Saren said, indicating the heap of broken Armature. "So fighting you would be useless. You have chosen to die along with the rest of your pathetic race. Unfortunate, but that…"

The bomb let out a loud siren, which stunned Saren momentarily. Shepard seized the opportunity to throw him biotically from his platform and sprint for the Normandy. She slid onto its ramp as the frigate pulled away from Virmire's war-torn surface. Saren stared malevolently up at her, then stepped onto his own vehicle, which shot away. The Normandy accelerated out of the atmosphere, and tore away from the planet as a second sun dawned over Saren's facility.


	13. Chapter 13

Author's Note:

Hey, guys. Long time, no see etc. etc.

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not abandoning the story, and indeed this here is proof. I haven't been writing much, but what I have been doing is thinking. ME3 was a real mindfuck, and to this day I'm not satisfied with what BioWare calls and ending to what is one of the most formative fictional universes I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. So I now feel an obligation to 'fix' it, for lack of a better term. I will most certainly finish this story, which covers ME1, 2 and the in-between, as well as the sequel, which will theoretically rewrite ME3 entirely. For now, though, I've got a really short chapter for you, and this promise:

It will be done.

* * *

Chapter 13

February 8, 2185

Human Embassy

Presidium, Citadel, Widow System

"Sorry, Shepard. Not while you're with Cerberus."

Shepard looked angrily at her mentor and friend, one Councilor David Anderson, who was currently being neither.

"He was my lieutenant two years ago, my… friend. And now you're keeping me away from him?"

"I told you, Sam. Staff Commander Alenko is doing classified work for the Alliance. I cannot trust you with his location when you freely ally yourself with terrorists. I thought your mother and I taught you the meaning of loyalty."

Anderson looked at her with what can only be described as disappointment. Shepard looked away, her eyes suddenly very itchy. She stared at Garrus and Jacob and then looked pointedly at the door. They shuffled out into the hall and the door slid shut. She turned back towards Anderson, who was leaning against the railing surrounding the room's balcony.

"I am not working with terrorists, David. I already submitted a report. I even typed it on my omnitool, not their computers. My position is… inconvenient right now."

"As is mine, Shepard. You're like the daughter I never had. After what happened at Alchera… Your mother told me how very proud she was of you. That you died like your father, making the galaxy just a little safer."

"Anderson…"

"Shepard, I can't give you anything until you get away from those monsters. You remember Kahoku. You remember Akuze."

Shepard closed her eyes and stifled the smell of burning flesh and the sight of her marines mangled beyond recognition. She swallowed hard.

"They have the tech and the resources to get me to the Collectors. They have data linking them to the Reapers."

"I know. I believe you, Shepard, like I always did. But I can't… I can't give you anything. My hands are tied. The only reason you're here is because you were… are a Spectre. Now that the council reinstated you, this is just two friends talking. If I gave you data I'd be courtmartialed to Earth and back."

"At the least take this," Shepard said, slipping a small data drive from her pocket. One that had been… liberated from a captured Cerberus agent. She pressed it into his hand.

"I won't say what's on it, but you'll know the password. Goodbye, Captain."

Shepard turned toward the door.

"Shepard?"

She turned back to see a weary man with the weight of the universe on his back.

"That picture frame. On the desk. It was for you. Kaidan give it to me after your funeral."

Shepard walked to his desk and grabbed the simple metal frame before exiting the room quickly. Anderson watched her leave, then stared down at the drive in his hand. Even with terrorists she managed to stay an Alliance marine, he thought with a twinge of pride.

* * *

May 20, 2183

SSV Normandy

Docking Bay 12, Citadel, Widow System

"GODDAMNIT!"

Shepard pounded her fist against her locker in the Normandy's mess. Those fucking morons had GROUNDED them. Just when they had begun to see reason.

'And that's why I hate politicians,' said a memory of Ashley Williams, another soldier whose death would mean nothing now.

Shepard slumped to the floor next to the lockers thankful the rest of the crew was off in the Citadel markets. She felt a few hot tears of anger flow down her cheeks and she made no effort to wipe them off.

_ That lying prick Udina is going to doom all sentient life while Saren helps the Reapers kill us. And I get to just fucking watch._

She buried her head in her arms as the exhaustion of the past few weeks caught up with her.

"Commander?"

She looked up blearily.

"You look awful," Kaidan offered helpfully.

"Thanks, Lieutenant."

"It's not your fault, you know. Ashley died a hero," he said, reading her mind.

"She died so we could watch Saren kick our collective asses while the Council sits on theirs."

"You don't mean that. There's a way out of this. There always is."

"How is it that you always find a way to see the good side of things? Even after all this shit?"

"Comes with the biotics and the great haircut," he deadpanned.

He offered her his hand. She looked suspiciously at it.

"But I was having so much fun drowning myself in misery…" she said as she cracked a small smile.

"You're the first human Spectre, a Commander in the Alliance Military, and the best damn C.O. I've ever had the pleasure of serving under. Now get up and prove it."

Feeling suddenly motivated, Shepard grabbed his calloused hand, oddly savoring the tingle as his biotic field meshed with hers. He pulled her to her feet, but apparently overshot, and she wound up inches from his face. She felt the urge to pull away die almost as quickly as it was born and found herself staring up at her LT.

But he was suddenly, immediately, more than that.

Kaidan seemed similarly at a loss for words and returned her gaze. They moved inexorably closer, and Samantha Shepard closed her eyes, anticipating the press of his lips.

"Sorry to… interrupt, Commander. Got a message from Captain Anderson."

Shepard opened her eyes and stepped back. Kaidan sighed and looked at his feet.

"Joker, were you spying on us?" she asked, cringing.

"No, ma'am. Just knew you were on the ship and figured I'd pass the message on."

Joker's voice had an undertone of almost childish glee, as though he had just found out the world's biggest secret.

"Captain said to meet him at Flux, that club down in the Wards. Unless you want me to tell him you're… _busy_."

Kaidan stared blankly at her, obviously at a loss for words.

"I… guess I better go, then," she said lamely.

"Oh, yeah… wouldn't want to keep the captain waiting…"

"Be at Flux in twenty minutes?"

Kaidan simply nodded, then nearly sprinted from the room. Shepard turned back towards her locker and banged her head against the wall. An enormous grin split her face.

"Goddamnit…"


	14. Chapter 14

Author's Note:

Hey! Guess what! I finally laid ME3 to rest!

What do I mean? Well, to put it rather bluntly, ME3 caused me quite a bit of emotional stress. As in the 'start messing with real life' kind. And until recently, i hadn't quite forgiven BioWare, Mass Effect, or the fucking Starbrat.

But then Citadel released, and I have to say, I am finally at peace. Now there has been a lot of concern, as Citadel sort of happens immediately after the Coup, canonically, but for me it's post-ending. That's how I rationalize it, that's how I deal with it, and that's how I sleep at night. And you know what? For nearly four hours of playing, I forgot the clusterfuck that is the ending. So, call it what you will, I am finally over this messy breakup, and I'm gunning to finally polish off my own spin on what happened.

To everyone who reads this, know that I love you. Seriously. I write out of a love for the universe and a genuine desire to be creative, so the fact that anyone actually reads this stuff is crazy awesome. Thanks!

* * *

Chapter 14

* * *

February 8, 2185

Normandy SR2

Docking Bay 12, Citadel, Widow System

Shepard exited the ship's elevator and crossed the small antechamber adjacent to her quarters. The door recognized her ID tag and slid open, and she nearly threw herself through the open entrance. She set the picture frame on her desk and fumbled with the latch on her chestplate.

_It was so much easier back when the suits were one piece… _she thought as she stripped the gauntlets from her wrists. She glanced back at the frame, which flipped periodically between several pictures. Anderson at his desk; Shepard receiving her N7 certification; the crew that took down Sovereign...

A lump formed in her throat and she stopped struggling with a stubborn shoulder pad as she remembered taking the picture.

_It had been Ash's suggestion. 'Let's get a group shot before we all blow up!' or something._

Shepard herself stood confidently in the center, flanked by Garrus and Wrex, both of whom looked reasonably put-off. Liara smiled awkwardly next to Tali, who may or may not have been smiling, and Ashley and Kaidan stood on the other side. Ashley had obviously set the holo up and run back to her spot, as Kaidan looked like she had nearly knocked him over.

_Everyone was so happy, yet we were facing certain doom._

Shepard ripped the armor off with a clack, and shrugged out of the backplate. She strode over to her desk and sat down in the chair, still wearing half her suit. She grabbed at the frame's edge and pulled it closer. The holo flipped to another picture of the crew, this time Ashley sitting on Joker's lap. Joker looked entirely surprised, and Shepard stifled a chuckle. She picked up the frame and felt an odd rough surface on the back. She turned the frame over and there on the back was a short message.

* * *

**Shepard-**

**After a mission like that, figured you could use a good laugh. You were the best damn CO any of us had ever had, so we all pitched in to give you a little reminder of the better times. If there's anyone who can carry the galaxy through this, it's you.**

**-Kaidan**

* * *

Shepard nearly dropped the gift in surprise. She placed it on the desk and pushed her chair back against the wall, a slew of emotions coursing through her.

_Kaidan, you shouldn't have._

But then, she noticed that one edge of the frame had come loose. Curiously, she got up and picked it off the ground. The left edge dropped away completely, exposing a hidden compartment. She peered inside to find a small data drive and, curiously, the object she had received from the Asari consort. It was marked with a simple 'Shepard'.

She booted up her omnitool and took the drive with her into her bathroom. She sat on the toilet and transferred the drive's contents. A message popped into view on the screen.

* * *

**Where did this come in most handy?**

* * *

She thought a moment, then tapped out the answer.

* * *

**Eletania**

* * *

The omnitool flashed once, then began projecting a video onto the bathroom wall. A holographic Anderson addressed her.

"I had heard you were back, Shepard. But I also attended your funeral, which means I had to make sure. If you are hearing this, that means you proved yourself. After what you went through on Akuze, I knew you wouldn't join Cerberus. Whatever you gave me, I'll make sure it gets to the right hands. As for this, well, I told you Alenko was doing some work for me. So let's just say it's classified. See for yourself."

Shepard's omnitool filled with information. Most of it was schematics and diagrams she had no chance of understanding, but one word repeated over and over again: Cerberus.

"The people you are working with are enemies of the Alliance, Shepard. I cannot willingly help them, and I am sure neither can you. Included in this software package are the only tools I can give you to bring them down from within. As you could probably guess, one is a broad-band close-range signal jammer. Your omnitool cannot be tracked or monitored by any external source while it's broadcasting. The second is a small program the Alliance developed after recent… events involving the Quarian flotilla. Your omnitool can hack into enemy shields and divert their power wirelessly into your own. And thanks to the Quarians, this will work similarly on any Geth you encounter. The last thing is an encrypted messaging system. It will work on your ship, although I would advise you to keep your messages brief. Too much data and it becomes easier to detect. I fully expect Cerberus to look for this sort of thing, so I had Commander Alenko encrypt it with a key he assures me nobody besides you and he would know. When you receive this message, please respond. There is much to do."

And with that, the projection stopped and the data drive flashed itself. Shepard tossed it into her toilet, flushed, and left her bathroom. There _was _much to do.

* * *

May 23, 2183

SSV Normandy

Deep Space, En Route to Mu Relay

Kaidan Alenko paced back and forth in front of the object of much of his frustration. The ship's backup generator display had confounded him for much of his time aboard. He spent what seemed like every waking minute tweaking and rewiring the panel, but inasmuch as he could tell, it still displayed readings at least two kPa wrong in the primary buffer panel.

_At least it gives you an excuse to loiter by Shepard's room._

Kaidan quashed the sudden return of his feelings for her. He had to remain professional. The Alliance had regs that forbade that sort of thing.

_She didn't seem to care about those a few days ago._

It had been only a short while since their almost-kiss, and Kaidan had dwelt on it more than he liked to admit.

_Like right now. Primary buffer panel readings, Kaidan._

He returned his attention to the panel in front of him, silently hoping Shepard would stay up on the bridge where she couldn't distract him.

"The Mu Relay is seventeen hours out. Everyone rest up. This has been tough on all of us, but the fact that you all stuck with me says it all."

And just like that, she distracted him. The other crew in the common area turned their attention toward the comm system, so he put his tools down and leaned against the bulkhead.

"We've got a tough fight ahead of us, but we have to stop the Reapers. The galaxy depends on us, and the Council, whether they like it or not, are getting our help. Take this opportunity to get some sleep. Essential crew, rotate three shifts. I want everyone at battle stations at 0800."

The crew around him went back to their business. Some headed off to the sleeper pods, others to their stations, and the rest sat down at the dining table. Kaidan returned to his problem. He stared at the console at length, as he had done many times, then resignedly tapped the shutdown button. He would deal with it later.

He had not taken three steps when his CO made her way to her quarters. As she sealed the door behind her, Kaidan took a seat at the table and tapped in a meal on the table's console, oddly relieved.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's Note:

Well now, hasn't it been awhile. I've been off doing important things like life, including College, Employment, and Introspection.

This gave me little time for Narrows, and I'm sorry. Sam Shepard is probably pretty upset at being pigeonholed like that, not that she'd show it.

But I'm back.

* * *

Chapter 15

* * *

Exact Date Unknown, 2184

Unidentified Research Base, Deep Space

James Cook shook violently awake. He was sprawled on the cool ceramic floor of a bare room. The featureless walls stood in stark contrast to the red scars crisscrossing his naked body. He gawked a moment at the sheer number of them. He felt sore all over, as though he had been beaten to a pulp.

"Hello?" he rasped.

The room made no effort to respond. He got shakily to his feet and felt along the nearest wall. It was completely solid and seamless.

"Anybody there?" he tried again.

A metallic whirring answered him, and a section of the floor slid open. A small tray was lifted out of the hole by a robotic arm, which set the tray in the corner. The whole contraption slid shut leaving him alone again.

He moved over to check the tray.

It held two packages. One was a small pile of plain clothing, the other was what appeared to be a tube of nutrient gel. He quickly dressed, and found himself very hungry. He slurped down the small tube and felt a small amount better. He pocketed the empty tube and went to inspect the tray. It was featureless and made of aluminum. Curiously, he banged it against the floor, but all it did was bend slightly. With nothing else to do, James Cook sat down and waited.

* * *

February 8, 2185

Normandy SR2

Citadel Space, Widow System

* * *

_**Anderson**_

_**I got the message. Will send you more when I get more. Tell Alenko thanks for the holos.**_

_**Shepard**_

* * *

With that, Shepard hit send. The message was thoroughly encrypted and attached to a request for Citadel News. The Cerberus filters immediately caught the extranet search, scanned it, pinged the extra kB as junk, determined it to be innocuous, and forwarded the data packet.

Shepard got up from her desk, stripped off the armored greaves she had left on, and made for the door. To her surprise, it opened before she could trigger the motion sensor.

"Hello, Commander," said her administrative assistant.

"Hello, Kelly. Can I help you?"

"You came up here very quickly. Did your meeting with Councilor Anderson go well?"

Shepard saw honest concern in the woman's eyes, and led her over to the sitting area. They sat down.

"My Spectre status was reinstated. As for the Councilor, he didn't give me anything. He doesn't approve of my… _relationship_ with your organization."

"That is understandable. Cerberus has a reputation among Alliance soldiers."

"A reputation they deserve," Shepard spat suddenly.

Kelly looked at her with a mix of concern and eagerness.

"And why do you think that, Shepard?"

"Kelly, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to figure out the source of my dislike of Cerberus so you can allay my concerns. It's what Miranda has tried to do at least four times since I've been here. It's not going to work."

"Shepard, I'm here to help. Have you had dealings with Cerberus in the past?"

Shepard closed her eyes. The smell of Thresher Maw venom filled her memory.

"They wiped out a platoon of my men on Akuze eight years ago. Almost killed me, too. They performed abominable experiments on Rachni. They even killed an Alliance Admiral, Kahoku, when he got too close. Whatever you say, Kelly, It's not going to get rid of that."

Kelly simply stared. Not at her, but through her. Shepard sat back in her chair and looked at the glass ceiling. The Citadel's ward arms stretched above.

"Shepard…" Kelly finally said. "If what you said is true, why are you still here?"

"Because the Reapers are bigger than my past. They're bigger than a terrorist organization with a seriously fucked view of the universe. They're bigger than me. I need anything I can get to stop them."

Kelly stared long and hard at her, this time meeting her eyes.

"That must be why you're here, then."

* * *

May 23, 2183

SSV Normandy

Twelve Hours from Mu Relay

"Why am I here?" Kaidan wondered aloud.

He stood outside his CO's room, his feet heavy in his Alliance-issue boots. He had sat at the table for nearly four hours, making light conversation, but otherwise debating in his head. He wanted to thank Shepard. For getting them all this far. He wanted to tell her the crew was behind her one hundred percent. He wanted to hold her close and…

_Nope. Not going there. _

And there was the source of his difficulty. She was important to him in more ways than just being his CO. From the moment they met, he had been drawn to her commanding presence, her sometimes subtle, sometimes overt sense of humor, her loyalty to her crew, and her conviction in protecting the galaxy the best she knew how. And that was all without even touching on the _physical _characteristics.

_I should probably go soak my head._

He started walking; his intent was to head to the showers and then a sleeping pod. His feet had a different idea, and he found himself standing in the doorway of Shepard's room. She looked up from the terminal on her desk and smiled.

He froze on the spot as his mind whirled, trying to excuse his presence.

"Hey, Commander,"

_Not a good start…_

"You probably shouldn't call me that anymore. I think traitor is a better title right now."

"The crew is behind you, Shepard. Saving the galaxy despite The Council insisting otherwise? That's what a hero does."

"You're just saying that. Kaidan, tell me the truth. Is this the stupidest idea I've had since you've known me?"

"Is that an order?"

"I can order you around now?" Shepard said in mock surprise.

Kaidan chuckled to himself.

"Shepard, the stupidest thing you've done while I've been here was letting Garrus drive the damn Mako. But look how good he's gotten!"

They both laughed, as everyone was nursing bruises from the Turian's not-so-stellar grasp of wheeled transportation.

"You always make the right decision, not the easy one. That's why I lo… respect you."

"Kaidan, did you just…"

He strode purposefully over, leaned over her and pulled her into his arms. She looked a bit startled, but then smiled.

"Kaidan…"

And then he kissed her.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's Note:

Hey, again. I accumulated quite the backlog of chapters, so I'm dumping several at once. This is #2.

Enjoy.

* * *

Chapter 16

* * *

February 10, 2185

Purgatory

Osun System

"Commander Shepard. I was expecting you."

Warden Kuril stood atop a small stairway, looking down at the small group before him. He enjoyed the feeling of power her felt looking down upon the Alliance's former hero.

_She's much smaller than the news vids make her out to be._

"We're here to pick up someone," Shepard said as she checked her omnitool. "Says here the name is Jack."

The guards standing at attention around the room visibly blanched at the mention of the girl currently in cryostorage. A few closed their eyes, remembering the stories. Outwardly, Kuril remained curt and expressionless.

"Before I take you inside, I must request you leave your weapons here. They will be returned after you take delivery of the prisoner."

Shepard seemed to consider his offer, but her hand drifted toward the large pistol strapped to her side.

"I think I'll keep mine, thanks."

"You must understand, this is only procedure…"

A surly looking man behind Shepard pulled his rifle from its sling on his back completely nonchalantly and grimaced. The guards around the room immediately drew their own.

"I'll give my goddam gun up if you do, Turian," the man drawled, completely at ease despite the array of weaponry trained on him and his compatriots.

Shepard gawked at the man's bravado, then turned to the other humans behind her, a dark, muscular man and a woman wearing startlingly little. The man shrugged.

"We keep our weapons, Warden. I'm sure you can handle a few more armed humans," Shepard said, instantly re-taking command.

Kuril swore inwardly. This trade was worth quite a bit.

"I suppose I won't risk the transaction. Follow me."

He led the Commander through the winding raised corridors of Purgatory, which overlooked large rooms filled with inmates and cells.

"We pride ourselves on our security here. Nobody gets in or _out _without authorization," he said, placing unconscious emphasis on the word_._

"Where do they have to go? This prison is in space," the muscular human wondered aloud.

"That's why we have our reputation. Many planetary governments pay very well to keep their most hardened criminals here."

They crossed a room full of robotic arms, which deftly manipulated large boxes Shepard assumed to be individual cells.

"And what if they don't pay?" inquired Shepard's female companion.

"Then we are forced to release the prisoner to his or her planet of origin," Kuril said. "At an unspecified location and time."

"That's one way to assure income," said the older of the two males, who, to Kuril's chagrin, still had his rifle unslung.

Kuril stopped at a doorway.

"Through here is outprocessing. You will take delivery of your prisoner when the credits have been transferred."

Shepard entered the room, which was surprisingly empty, save a single technician tapping on a computer terminal. A door on the far wall was labeled 'Outprocessing'. However, as soon as the group approached, the door slid open to reveal a small cell.

"I'm sorry, Shepard, but you're worth more to me as a prisoner. Drop your weapons and step into the cell and I can promise you will not be harmed," Kuril blared over the speakers.

At his command, a dozen Blue Suns mercs entered the other side of the room and trained their weapons on Shepard's squad.

"You son of a bitch," Shepard snarled.

Zaeed casually strolled up to her and handed her a small object.

"This was obviously a trap, Shepard. The Suns have clearly relaxed their entry requirements."

Shepard flipped the switch on the remote and watched the mercenaries on the other side of the room come apart in a large explosion.

"Zaeed, why didn't you mention this?"

But Zaeed was already through the far door, mowing down Blue Suns as he went. Jacob shrugged again and they followed the trail of corpses.

* * *

May 24, 2183

SSV Normandy

Mu Relay

"There she is. Want me to turn the ship around? We could always go back to the Citadel and apologize."

"Just hit it, Joker. Saren might already be at the Conduit."

"Fine, ruin my fun."

The Normandy pulled within kilometers of the massive, blue object driting through interstellar space. A signal was exchanged and the relay glowed brighter; a blinding light in the void. The Normandy was caught in the pulse it fired and shot across the galaxy like the shell in a mass driver. Not thirty seconds later, the brown expanse of Ilos filled the viewport. A fleet of Geth hung above like ugly, iridescent insects.

"Shit, you see all those cruisers?"

"We're stealthed, Alenko. No Geth are gonna see my baby."

Navigator Pressly called from a nearby console.

"Scans of the surface show Saren landed. We can make it if we land now."

"Negative. There's no open areas for kilometers around. The biggest place I can find is only twenty meters across," came the reply from the Kaidan in the copilot's seat.

"I can do it."

"Joker?"

"I can do it."

Shepard saw the determination in her pilot's eyes and immediately made for the cargo bay.

"Alenko, Vakarian, T'Soni. Suit up. We're going in."

Not five minutes later, The four of them were crammed into the cramped interior of the Mako. Garrus started the vehicle up and Liara strapped herself in. Shepard slid into her spot next to Garrus, feeling oddly at ease.

"Drop in sixty. Opening the bay doors," Joker called.

Shepard inhaled.

The doors slammed open and the stagnant atmosphere of Ilos roiled through the bay. The Mako shuddered.

Shepard opened her eyes just as Garrus hit the accelerator. The vehicle plunged towards the ground sickeningly, and shot straight through a gap in the dense foliage. It bounced once, took flight again, and wedged itself into a pair of blast doors, which ground to a halt. Shepard peered through the vine-covered windscreen and saw Saren staring back at her. His blue, cybernetic eyes met her green, organic ones again, for a split second, and then he was gone, speeding away in a Geth transport.

* * *

February 10, 2185

Purgatory

Osun System

The girl sprinted across the room towards a pair of Blue Suns. One raised his rifle.

_Big mistake, fucker._

She biotically wrenched his arm around sideways, splintering armor and bone alike. The nerves in his hand fired, and his rifle emptied into his companion's face mask at point blank range. The second man dropped, and the girl launched herself at the first, readying a biotic sheath over her fist. She released the energy as her bare fist connected with the man's ceramic-composite helmet, removing it completely, along with the head inside. The body slumped sideways, spraying blood across the nearby bulkhead. She searched for a new target, and found herself in front of a viewport. Outside, a ship was docked, and emblazoned across the side was a familiar symbol. Orange, Angular, and Evil.

"CERBERUS!" She screamed.

She grabbed the headless corpse and threw it down the hallway, her entire body glowing blue. The biotic display enhanced by her anger, her gravity well began to warp the metal of the floor and ceiling. She threw the other corpse at the bulkhead with enough force to dent the hardened metal, and turned again to see another group of guards. She readied her biotic energy for another display, but flinched when the woman at the lead pulled out a pistol and shot at her.

Shepard shot the mercenary behind the girl, who had been about to blow her head off. The girl simply stood, stunned.

"Jack?"

The girl shook her head, clearing it.

"The fuck do you want? Are you with them?"

She pointed angrily out the window at the Normandy, then noticed the symbol again on the chests of two of the people in front of her.

"You fucking whore!"

Jack launched herself at Shepard and her squad, but Shepard and Miranda caught her in a biotic field.

She simply looked furious, denied her kill.

Shepard dropped her half of the field, causing the girl to fall to the floor.

"We're here to get you out."

"Like hell you are. I know what you sick fucks are after. Cerberus fucked up my life before, and I won't sit here and let them fuck me again!"

"I'm not with Cerberus," Shepard offered, to a scowl from Miranda.

"Oh really. Well, that's a fucking Cerberus ship out there," Jack said, crossing her arms.

"It's either you trust me, or I leave you here. Good luck with the failing life support."

Jack looked apprehensively at the ship, then back at Shepard.

"Let's make a deal."

"Name it."

Jack smirked. This woman had no idea what she was doing.

"Unlimited access to your ship's data storage. My own quarters."

"Done."

Miranda stared openmouthed at her CO, nearly dropping her pistol. Jacob merely grinned.

"You're serious?" Jack said.

Shepard indicated towards the boarding ramp.

"Make yourself at home."

* * *

-CG


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note

Hello, Earth-Clan. I bring a great bargain! Three chapters for the price of one!

Even though they're only around 1500 words each, you get 4500 total! That's more than 3!

Now go read it or something!

* * *

Chapter 17

* * *

May 24, 2183

M35 Mako IFV

Ilos, Refuge System

"Well, shit."

Shepard slumped in her seat and looked sideways at Garrus, who had his three-fingered hands in a deathgrip on the Mako's controls. They sat at the top of a large hill, which looked down on the only thing between them and the five hundred meter Mass Relay known as the Conduit.

"We can take eight Colossi, right Commander?" Garrus turned to her nervously.

Shepard brought up the main cannon's fire control on her viewscreen and was about to ignite the latest in a series of battles when a call broke through Ilos' thick atmosphere.

"Shepard, this is Joker. If you can hear this, I've got Fifth Fleet. We're standing by to reinforce the Cit…" The message dissolved in static.

"Joker?"

Her short message alerted the Geth below them and Garrus had to slam the vehicle into reverse to avoid several siege pulses.

"We have to get into that Relay. Saren must already be there."

With a strained grunt, Garrus gunned the Mako. They flew down the hillside, dodging Geth and rockets. Shepard took a few potshots, but the rough terrain made aiming impossible.

"This is it. Hold on to your asses."

"What?" Liara said fearfully, clamping her hands over her backside.

"It's a human thing," offered Garrus.

They shot off a low rise and entered the pulsing field surrounding the Conduit. Shepard felt time and space collapse, and they were propelled into oblivion.

* * *

February 18, 2185

Normandy SR2

Interstellar Space, En Route to Horizon

Shepard frowned at the large object nestled in the Normandy's port cargo hold. Okeer had been a handful, but at least she had a bit of data on him. The Krogan in front of her, suspended peacefully in some sort of gel, was an unknown.

_I could just vent the thing…_

"EDI, how quickly can we vent the port cargo hold?"

"One point three seconds. However, I would not advise…"

"Just asking."

She bit her lip. True, he was a Krogan. If Wrex was anything to go by, any Krogan was worth three humans in combat. If only Okeer hadn't died.

_At least we gave Jedore what was coming to her._

Shepard could still see the look of complete incredulity on the Blue Sun's face as she flew by, propelled by Jack's biotics.

"Suck on that, you arrogant bitch!" yelled the angry girl at the fading blue speck that disappeared into the rocks hundreds of meters below the laboratory.

Shepard quickly returned to the present. Open the casket? Or leave behind a possibly insane murderous living tank? Cursing silently, she stepped towards the console.

_I did have a bounty hunter, a C-Sec agent, and an archaeologist on my last crew. What's different about a grow-your-own Krogan?_

The gel inside the tank drained slowly and Shepard stood back. The pair of Cerberus soldiers behind her gripped their Gorgon assault rifles tighter. She smiled reassuringly as the tank slid open and the Krogan slammed to the floor, denting the grating.

"Hello?" she said cautiously.

The Krogan coughed up a considerable amount of goop and stood to his feet. He surveyed the room, taking note of the armed guards and the unarmed human in front of him. Intelligent, bright blue eyes fixed on Shepard and he sprang into action.

"Whoa…"

The Krogan grabbed her by the neck and had her against the wall before the soldiers could put a shot in his hide.

"Before I kill you, I need a name," he spat.

"Shepard. Now, please. Put me down."

"Not yours, human. Mine. Okeer gave me everything but purpose. And identity."

"How about… Garrus?" She suggested, biting back a quick smirk.

"That name sounds… Turian. I feel anger. Are you mocking me?"

"Not mocking _you_ specifically…"

"Legacy… Bloodline… Grunt… Grunt. It is fitting. Brutal and simple."

"Okay, Grunt. Now put me down before those men over there make your life brutal and simple as well."

The Krogan seemed to realize he wouldn't survive the pair of armed men, regardless of the fact one seemed to have soiled his armor. He dropped the human he had pinned to the wall.

"You have not shot me. This is against Alliance Military protocol. Where is Okeer?"

"Okeer's dead."

"Did you kill him?"

"No, but I killed those who did."

"Then you were stronger than him. That is enough for me to follow you for now."

Shepard barely contained a sudden coughing fit.

"What? I kill somebody, and suddenly you follow me?"

"Better you than those humans behind you. At least you can face me without pissing yourself."

* * *

May 25, 2183

M35 Mako IFV

Presidium, Citadel, Widow System

The universe suddenly righted itself, and Shepard was tossed out of nowhere into her seat in the Mako. She shook her head and the helmet fell off her armor, taking her communicator with it. Curiously, they hit the ceiling and stayed there. She feebly grabbed for them, but to no avail. She looked out the Mako's viewscreen.

"Garrus, why are we upside-down?"

"What?" came the response from somewhere behind her.

"Whose arm is this?"

"Liara, where did you get a Geth?"

Shepard pulled on her harness, which dumped her unceremoniously on her head. She jammed the communicator back on her head and clipped her helmet to her belt before turning to the mess behind the cockpit.

"Nice to see you, Commander," said Kaidan from under a Geth Prime's lower half.

Shepard emerged from the wreckage of Garrus' pride and joy to find the Presidium aflame. The Relay Monument, now clearly the Conduit, spun lazily in front of her, and from the bits and pieces, it appeared their visitor in the cabin had formerly been patrolling this very spot before receiving a rather large knock to the head.

"We should probably head that way, Commander," Kaidan called, pointing upwards as he extricated himself from the Mako.

Through the simulated sky and butts of the Presidium ring, Shepard could make out the Citadel Tower, the home of the Council. It appeared to have something attached to it.

_Well, doesn't this just get better and better._

Liara and Garrus squeezed out of the ex-IFV and stood to their feet as well, taking in the destroyed Presidium.

"Now or never, Commander." Garrus murmured.

Stepping over chunks of dismembered Prime, Shepard and her squad set off for the tower's elevator.

* * *

February 18, 2185

Normandy SR-2

Interstellar Space, En Route to Horizon

"Shepard. We have a lead. I know what the Alliance is doing."

Shepard's mind immediately flashed to the data drive and Anderson's response to her message.

Alenko sends regards. Will meet you when next possible,

She quickly returned herself to the reality of the QEC.

"The Collectors are going to hit Horizon."

"And you just know that?"

The Illusive Man laughed and took a sip of his whiskey.

"I have my sources, Shepard. I let slip through my channels that this was to happen. I anticipate the Alliance will send a full response."

"So why send me?"

"Because they're still a day's journey out. You're already there."

Shepard frowned.

"How do you know they'll hit the colony?"

"The data we pulled from that Quarian's omnitool on Freedom's Progress wasn't completely useless. Buried in the static was evidence that they would make their way to the Shadow Sea. And to Horizon."

"Mordin has had some time to work on a countermeasure by now. I'm going to check on it. We wouldn't want to need another Lazarus Project."

"You jest, Shepard, but we need that countermeasure. The Galaxy depends on it."

"I'll talk to Mordin."

With that, she stepped out of the Normandy's quantum entanglement comm system and made for the ship's lab.

"Ah, Shepard. Here about countermeasure? Very tricky. Have been busy."

The Salarian led her to a tank against the wall, which contained what looked like a…

"Don't touch. Poisonous. Stinger can puncture armor. Diamond weave glass no problem."

"Can we do anything about these… swarm things?"

The seeker in the tank buzzed angrily and bounced off the walls. Mordin merely gave her an evil look.

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

-CG


	18. Chapter 18

Author's Note

This chapter was fun to write. Initially, the confrontation with Saren was rather long, and I went with the whole "Paragon Points" end to it.

Then I said "Screw it" and replaced it with something I like better. Shepard isn't perfect, and sometimes she needs her squaddies at her back.

Have fun, kids.

* * *

Chapter 18

* * *

May 25, 2183

Citadel Tower

Citadel, Widow System

The elevator ground to a sudden halt, jolting the squad off their feet.

"Shit. I think Sovereign's on to us," Garrus complained.

Shepard grabbed at the helmet at her waist. She popped it into place and sealed the neck.

"Suit up. We're going outside."

The blast of decompression nearly launched Shepard into the vast expanse between the Ward Arms. She quickly magnetized her boots, and the rest of her squad did the same. With several dull thumps, they adhered to the side of the tower.

"So now we're going up?" Kaidan guessed.

"At least we're not going out," Liara pointed out as a half-slagged chunk of Turian cruiser floated past a hundred meters away.

Shepard made her way up the side of the enormous tower, the unbelievable glow of life around her and the yawning dark of Sovereign's plating ahead.

* * *

February 18, 2185

UT-47 Kodiak

Horizon Colony, Horizon, Iera System

Shepard stared out the shuttle's viewport at the monstrosity that had haunted her nightmares for the past two years. It was roughly cylindrical, chitinous, and evil-looking. And it was parked in the center of the colony. The Kodiak was flying below any radar the Collectors might be using, but stealth had done little two years ago.

"We're thirty seconds out. Lock and load," Shepard barked suddenly. She re-checked the sighting on her M-96 Mattock and quickly cycled the heatsink ejector. It slid smoothly, so she slammed a canister of 'sinks into the gun violently. Across from her, Garrus had his sniper rifle laid across his lap as he made last-minute adjustments to his visor's targeting link. Jacob merely stared out the window as though convincing himself of the nature of their mission. Mordin strode out of the cockpit.

"Seeker countermeasures appear to work so far. Will look forward to testing them myself. Ready when you are, Shepard."

The Kodiak buzzed a small clearing outside the colony, wheeled around, and settled into a hover a meter above Horizon's dusty surface. The hatch popped open, and Horizon's startlingly clean atmosphere filled Shepard's nostrils.

"Keep in radio contact. I want you able to provide support within a minute. The countermeasure should keep the swarms off," she told the pilot, who nodded.

"Everyone out!"

The squad dropped from the shuttle, which sped away, and swept into the deserted colony.

* * *

The Citadel

"Crap. Garrus, take that guy out."

Garrus popped out of cover and put a round into the Geth sniper's optical sensor. It floated away, a butt of hydraulic fluid spreading around the puncture in its head. Shepard dashed from cover to the large antiship turret mounted on the tower's exterior. A worm Kaidan had given her tunneled into its targeting software and activated the turret's cannon.

BLAM

Shepard ducked behind the turret as it launched a slug of ferromagnetic tungsten at the hovering Geth dropship. The kinetic impact flipped the massive vessel on its side, and its thrusters fought the roll.

BLAM

A second round tore through the dropship's exposed belly and ripped it in half. She glanced over at the other side of the battlefield, where Kaidan was doing the same thing. His dropship took two in the nose and augered into a comm array, showering them in bits of metal. She tapped the comm link in her helmet.

"Nice shot, Alenko,"

"Yours wasn't bad, either,"

Garrus moved up, the immediate Geth threat neutralized.

"We should get moving. The Citadel fleet is getting its ass kicked outside."

"Take point, Vakarian."

* * *

Horizon

Jacob grabbed the nearest insect-like collector with his biotics and yanked it out of cover. Mordin launched a plasma bolt from his omnitool at it, and Shepard was pleased to see it burst into flame.

"Shepard, watch out…"

A collector had taken cover on the opposite side of Shepard's box. It reached across with its jagged claws and grabbed her by the shoulder plate, hoping to bypass her kinetic barriers. She pulsed a biotic field, knocking it to the ground, and put six rounds in its ugly face.

"Got it, Taylor. Garrus, hit that bastard with the laser."

As if on cue, the Collector in question raised its weapon and sliced Shepard's cover in half. Fuel cells poured from the crate and Shepard dove for cover.

"Garrus?"

A sharp CRACK told her he had downed the bug.

"He's down," came the Turian's gravelly reply.

Shepard got to her feet and kicked the corpse of the nearest Collector.

"So this is a Collector. Ugly fuckers."

"I'm sure the Reapers didn't hold a fashion contest when they hired henchmen," Jacob deadpanned.

Shepard grinned.

"Looks like what we're doing here is just some low-cost plastic surgery. Come on. This colony has an ugly epidemic."

The squad moved up, scanning the buildings for signs of life. Save the occasional butt of seekers, it was deserted.

"Status of colonists questionable at best. Revelation… disturbing."

"We better find them soo… OOF."

Shepard tripped over a prone figure leaning against a doorframe. She pushed herself up and stared right into the eyes of a small boy.

"SHIT."

Jacob shook his head as Shepard quickly pushed herself away.

"That's just messed up."

Mordin quickly pulled a portable scanner from his bag and began to gather data.

"Condition similar to biotic stasis. Origin unknown. Likely Collector Ship."

Shepard looked into the eyes of the small boy. They looked back into hers.

"So they freeze us and pack us up. That's what Veetor said back on Freedom's Progress. Why?"

Mordin looked at his readings and frowned.

"No conclusive data. Need bodies. Reason not discernible without access to Collector systems."

"Let's get to that ship. We're getting our people back."

The squad filed out of the room, but Shepard hung back. She looked again at the small form huddled in the corner.

"I'll be out in thirty. Be ready."

She reached under the collar of her dark blue armor. There hung a small object on a chain. She pulled it out and into the light.

The object, a curve of metal with a pattern on one side, had been given to her by the Asari Consort, Sha'ira, back on the Citadel two years ago. Miraculously, it had slotted into a strange orb she had found on the planet Eletania during a search for a lost Alliance probe, blasting her with a sudden and intense vision.

She turned the simple object over in her palm, then strode to where the child sat, unmoving.

"If what my friend said is true, you can hear me right now," she said calmly.

The child's eyes suddenly looked up, then down in their sockets. Shepard felt a pang of guilt.

"Listen. I'm here to make sure everyone here gets out of this alive. I'm here to help."

She placed the trinket on the floor in front of the boy.

"I'm leaving this here to show you I'm coming back for you. Be strong. I will be right here when this is all over."

She smiled and turned away to find Jacob standing in the doorway.

"That was a good thing you did," he said.

"If you tell Garrus, I'll kill you."

* * *

The Citadel

The squad dropped into the elevator shaft adjacent to the Council Chambers. Behind them, the shattered window glittered in the vacuum. An armored plate slid over the broken pane, and the elevator shaft pressurized, but thankfully the gravity generator didn't initialize.

"Help me with this," Kaidan said to Liara, and the two of them got to work on the door.

Shepard tapped at her comm link and tried to raise the Citadel fleet, but got only static.

"You guys got that door open?"

She turned to find a Geth floating towards her. It was leaking a growing butt of hydraulic fluid from a rupture in its neck. Behind it, Garrus sheathed a wicked-looking knife.

"Door's open. After you, Commander."

One by one, the squad entered the Council Chamber, dropping back into the Citadel's artificial gravity. They swept through the empty chamber, meeting surprisingly little resistance.

"Saren must have expected us to die out there," Liara offered as explanation.

"Looks like he'll be surprised to see us, then."

Sure enough, when Shepard rolled from behind a planter and took aim at Saren's back, he gave no indication he knew they were there.

"Saren, it's over," Shepard shot, breaking his concentration from the console in front of him.

"Shepard. It seems Sovereign was right to prioritize you. You have been quite the obstacle."

"You're indoctrinated! You can't possibly…"

Saren held up a hand. A metallic, synthetic hand.

"After Virmire, I thought about what you said. About Sovereign indoctrinating me. My faith slipped. I began to question my choice."

Shepard clicked off the safety on her pistol. She knew where this was going.

"Sovereign sensed my hesitation. It offered me relief. I have become, through its help, the perfect blending of Organic and Synthetic. I no longer fear. Join me, Shepard, and we can live to see the Reapers complete their purpose."

"You ignorant fuck!" Shepard aimed her pistol at his chest. "Sovereign just used your crisis of faith to get more of its claws in you! You're half Reaper! You're indoctrinated! Can't you see that?"

Saren snarled and tossed her backwards with a pulse of biotic energy.

"How dare you stand in the way of ascension?"

Shepard hit the ground hard, dropping her pistol.

"Ascension? You can't seriously…"

"Enough! You will bow or you will die, like the rest of your pathetic race."

Shepard saw her opening. She got to her feet and opened her hands, palms up.

"Saren, I'm not going to shoot you. You can fight. You can keep the Reapers from coming back. All you have to do is think."

Saren twitched. His narrowed, glowing eyes relaxed for a moment.

"You know, deep down, that we can win. Sovereign might look overwhelming, but if we band together, we can beat it."

Saren looked down at his hands, which were no longer his.

"I can… fight..?"

"You're not a slave of the Reapers. Make the decision. Stop this."

Saren turned to her, his gaze respectful.

"Shepard, you… are right. Thank you."

And with that, he pulled out his pistol, pointed it at Shepard, and pulled the trigger.

The first shot ricocheted off her barriers, and Saren made to take a second when three separate guns went off. Shepard turned to find her squad standing behind her, weapons raised.

"Thanks…" she said weakly. Kaidan nodded.

Shepard strode over to the console, kicking Saren off the balcony as she went. She linked to the Citadel's master radio and hailed Joker on the Normandy as the screen in front of her filled with images of the Geth fleet outside the Citadel decimating the haggard Council ships.

"Shepard, please tell me that's you," Joker said, his voice full of worry.

"It's me Joker. Saren's dead. Where are you?"

"Saren's… Never mind. I'm at Arcturus with the whole goddamn Fifth Fleet. We're there as soon as you open the relays."

"Opening them."

* * *

Horizon

Shepard dodged a ball of… well, she didn't know.

Moments before, she had put three rounds into a Collector drone, punching a fist sized hole in its chest. It fell, but then rose frighteningly into the air.

ASSUMING… CONTROL!

The drone seemed to glow with power and shrugged off the mortal wound. It dropped its rifle into the grass and advanced upon its would-be killer,

YOU WILL FACE YOUR DESTINY, SHEPARD

_Did that drone just…_

And then it flung the ball.

Shepard dived into the dirt as the ball whipped overhead. She _felt_ the energy fly past, like she felt the biotic warp technique Jacob hurled at the monstrosity. But it felt _wrong._ Like something that shouldn't exist.

"FUCK!" Jacob yelled as the creature ignored his attack and used a throw of its own to hurl him into a pile of machinery.

PREPARE FOR ASCENSION

"Fuck you too!" she yelled.

And with that she reached for her shotgun.

"Shepard, take that thing out!" Garrus yelled, dropping two bugs advancing on him and Mordin.

Shepard stepped out of cover to face the twisted abomination. She felt a surge of adrenaline, as well as a curious jolt of electricity from her biotic amplifier. She readied her shotgun and pushed off her back foot to close the distance between her and the beast.

It was then that something happened she had never anticipated. Her amp pulsed white-hot and her entire body seemed to dissolve with the power it pumped into her nervous system. One second, the Collector was ten meters away, and the next she had passed _straight through_ it.

Jacob dropped his pistol.

"Shepard?"

Shepard whirled around to find where the Collector had been standing was a pile of ash. Her entire body tingled, but she seemed no worse for the wear. She turned back to her squad, who stared, openmouthed. Garrus was the first to speak.

"That was… cool."

* * *

Citadel

On the bridge of the Destiny Ascension, the pride of the council fleet, the mood was anything but. The captain dead, her first officer stood at the Captain's console.

"This is the Destiny Ascension! We are taking fire from all sides! The Council is on board, repeat, the Council is on board!"

For the moment, the Geth fleet seemed to be endless. As the first officer looked out the viewport, she saw nothing but her imminent death.

She closed her eyes, resigned to fate.

The Citadel relays suddenly sprang to life. Even as the geth pounded the Ascension's battered frame, pinpricks of light flashed around them.

"Destiny Ascension," came the response. "This is Alliance Fifth Fleet. We'll handle this."

In seconds, the incoming human vessels acquired locks on the massed Geth fleet and fired their payloads. At the helm of the Normandy, Joker couldn't help but smile as the Geth dissolved in a sea of silent fire.

"This is the Destiny Ascension. We're clear. Thanks, Fifth Fleet."

Joker tapped his comm link to the Citadel.

"Shepard, you need to open the Ward Arms. That Reaper's next."

"Copy, Joker. Opening now."

The Alliance Fifth Fleet, the pride of human stellar engineering, bore down on the slowly opening Citadel. Nearly sixty of the most formidable ships ever constructed closed with Sovereign.

In seconds, it became a bloodbath.

The Reaper lifted two arms and fired a beam from each, gutting two Cruisers.

"Admiral Hackett, we just lost the Cairo and the Madrid,"

Joker dodged a third blast and released the Normandy's torpedoes.

* * *

-CG


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note

Oh man oh man was this chapter *difficult*.

I agonized over the boss battle forever, trying to get it right, and wound up with quite a few different narratives.

Some were super quick and seemed to skip over it too quickly, some were too long and never ended.

I hope I hit a nice medium here.

Happy Sailing!

* * *

Chapter 19

* * *

May 25, 2183

Council Chambers

Citadel, Widow System

Shepard gave the order and closed the console.

_It's out of my hands now._

She stared down and the corpse of her former enemy. Saren had dropped through the glass ceiling below the Council's meeting chamber, where he lay.

"Make sure he's dead," She instructed Garrus, who hopped down and put a bullet in Saren's already metal-riddled skull.

She stood back and stared out the massive windows above the chamber, where the Alliance was giving all they could. The broken body of a frigate drifted slowly into view, the last gasps of its life escaping in a haze of vented atmosphere.

Below, the similarly broken body, this time a Turian, began to vent as well. A sudden tremor shot through the tower, shaking the room.

_The hell?_

Saren's corpse began to burn red-hot, and the associated shaking of the tower caused the pedestal Shepard had stood on to tear free of its supports. The chunk of metal and composite crashed through the glass below and deposited Shepard directly in front of her deceased rival, as though to show her exactly what was happening. Kaidan and Garrus rushed in to a hideous sight.

Ex-Saren stood straight up, the flesh boiling on his bones. Chunks of organic matter simply fell off his cybernetic skeleton, and he released the cry of the damned as he became one with Sovereign.

"Holy shit," Shepard mouthed, unable to tear her eyes from it.

Ex-Saren, now rid of his unnecessary Turianity, turned to Shepard, drilling her with blood-red optics from within bleached, scorched bone. His voice echoed not from him, but from the walls around them.

I AM SOVEREIGN. THIS STATION IS MINE.

Kaidan grabbed Shepard by the shoulder pads and hoisted her out of the horror.

"Shepard, run."

The squad, sans Liara, made for the nearest doorway, but Ex-Saren leaped across the room to block their exit.

YOU WILL SUBMIT.

Shepard responded with a blast from her shotgun, which launched the Ex-Spectre across the hallway. Kaidan and Garrus ran past his twitching form, but Shepard never got the chance. He grabbed her and raised her high above his head, as though to gloat.

THIS IS THE WAY OF THINGS.

"Try again," said Liara from behind him.

Ex-Saren turned and got a faceful of biotic singularity. He dropped Shepard as the gravity well pulled at his very existence.

YOU WILL CHANGE NOTHING.

The monster responded with a warp of its own, launching Liara back across the room. It advanced on Shepard, crushing her shotgun under its robotic foot.

YOU ARE NOTHING

It grabbed her in a biotic field and began to squeeze. Shepard felt the life draining from her as her vision blurred and faded.

"NO!"

Kaidan leaped into action, firing his pistol one-handed as he summoned a blast of energy with the other.

Saren turned, still crushing the Commander, and tossed him backwards, denting the wall behind him.

YOU ARE WEAK

Garrus spun into the room and emptied his rifle into Saren's barrier. Saren merely twisted the barrel of the precision rifle, rendering it useless. Garrus continued his mad sprint, unsheathing the wicked knife he always carried.

Screaming in guttural Turian, he leaped at his former comrade, swinging the knife. He collided bodily, knocking the robotic abomination to the ground and freeing Shepard.

YOU OFFER NO CHALLENGE

The ex-spectre leaped to its feet, Garrus' knife protruding from its bleached skull, now half-crushed. It kicked its attacker across the room, cracking the turian's breastplate.

"Oh, fuck no."

Saren turned to face Shepard, who pulled her full might from the L3 implants embedded in her skull.

NO

Shepard launched a warp so intense it pulled the floor apart as it travelled, before impacting on Saren, tearing him limb from limb. As he clattered to the floor, his skull, knife still attached, turned to face her.

THIS CHANGES NOTHING

Shepard got up, shook off everything that had just transpired, placed her pistol against the trapped Ex-Turian's half-destroyed skull, and clicked off the safety.

"This? This looks like change to me,"

And she pulled the trigger.

* * *

February 18, 2185

Horizon Colony

Horizon, Iera System

Shepard strode from the battle with a new spring in her step. The biotic display she had just given her squad had somehow invigorated her, rather than sapping her reserves like biotics usually did. She put her boot through a dead Collector drone's slimy torso almost casually, as they made their way to a large warehouse.

"Shepard?"

"Garrus?"

The Turian still looked in awe, as though she had singlehandedly punted the entire Reaper fleet back into dark space.

"How long have you been able to do that?"

She tapped at the panel to the side of the warehouse's massive door and considered the question.

"I honestly don't know. Must be the new implants," she said, gesturing towards the base of her skull, where the tiny box still hummed with power.

Her mindless tapping eventually paid off and her omnitool's built-in decryptor opened the half-meter thick door in front of her. Motioning silently towards the stacks of crates within, she entered, pistol drawn.

Mordin swept around the doorway while Garrus moved along the far wall, his rifle pressed firmly into his shoulder. Shepard was about to drop her guard when a stray bit of metal plate suddenly dropped from an open crate near the building's other door.

"Come out!" she barked. "We have you surrounded."

A few more bits of metal shifted within the crate and out stumbled a man who looked like he had been through hell.

"Stand down," Shepard said, holstering her sidearm.

"Oh, thank God! Are you here to save us?" The man stammered.

"Yes I am. The Alliance will be here soon."

"Dammit. Those things came out of nowhere. If that damn marine hadn't brought those things here everyone would still be alive. The Alliance can go f…"

Shepard fought the urge to punch the man in the mouth, but her glare stopped him in his tracks.

"I get it; don't look a heavily-armed gift horse in the mouth. But those things came here because you made us a target. It's your damn fault we're dying out here."

"I made you a target?" Shepard asked coolly.

"The Alliance sent that Marine… Carth… Carl… something. He put up those defense towers. If those weren't there, the bug things would have never…"

Shepard put a hand in front of his face.

"Hold that thought."

She stepped over to a nearby window, outside of which was a stack of Collector pods. Inside each was a colonist. She glared at the man and stabbed a finger at the glass.

"Those bug things are called Collectors. They would have come here even if the Alliance hadn't graciously offered this colony a little protection from pirates."

She stepped back to the man, who stared nervously at the Salarian scanning him with an omnitool.

"Speaking of protection, why the hell aren't those shiny new guns pounding away right now?"

Mordin finished his examination and mumbled something about 'test groups'.

"The marine. That Calvin guy. He said the targeting wasn't working right. He probably just wanted to spy on us some more."

Shepard pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, then called the Normandy.

"EDI, can you tap into the colony's defense systems and get them working?"

"Affirmative, Shepard. However, the Collector ship appears to be interfering with our tightbeam transmitter. You're going to have to connect me manually."

Shepard turned back to the colonist.

"What's your name?"

"Uhhh, Delan, ma'am."

"Delan, go back to your crate. We're going to get those turrets working."

Jacob punched the panel on the exit door and they moved outside, straight into another squad of Collectors.

* * *

Citadel

The pistol shot echoed through the hallway and Ex-Saren slumped, his body still smoking from the display.

"Thanks, guys," Shepard laughed, sweeping her hair out of her eyes, where it had fallen in the chaos.

Her squad graoned as they got to their feet from various corners of the room and made their way towards the corpse.

Liara stared at the former Turian with a curious hatred and popped another singularity.

"Liara?"

The mangled frame of Saren's synthetic skeleton twisted and popped as he was drawn toward the gravitic anomaly.

Shepard grabbed Liara's wrist firmly.

"Liara," she said.

The asari dropped her biotic display, depositing a bundle of twisted metal on the ground, all that remained of their enemy.

"I'm sorry, Shepard," Liara cried, and fell against her, holding on like Shepard was a life raft.

Kaidan and Garrus couldn't help but chuckle as Shepard lost all verbal control and stared wide-eyed at the Asari, who seemed content just to hug her.

Outside, however, the mood was decidedly different.

"Shit, that was the Emden!"

Joker dodged another beam from the Reaper, but the cruiser behind the Normandy wasn't so lucky and lost its engineering and propulsion decks.

"Admiral Hackett, we can't breach the barriers!" yelled the captain of the SSV Perugia.

"We have to. All ships, give this sonofabitch everything you have!"

Suddenly, as though Sovereign had heard Hackett's plan and decided to go along with it, the Reaper shuddered. A wave of static swept along the massive dreadnaught's hull and its kinetic barriers dissipated. The incoming volley of mass driver rounds, fired point-blank with nothing to stop them, punched straight through the Reaper's armor plate, severing several of its limbs. Its grip on the Citadel tower weakened, the venting gases propelled Sovereign away from the tower, and right into the path of a wave of missiles fired by the fleet's frigates.

Joker had to shield his eyes as Sovereign's reactor went critical and the interior of the citadel was lit by nuclear fire.

Inside the tower, Shepard's squad was momentarily illuminated by the massive fireball, but as they turned to look, a segment of Sovereign's armor shot straight through the wall of the chamber, showering them in debris.

* * *

-CG


End file.
